CIHM 
Microfiche 
Series 
(Monographs) 


iCI\1H 

Collection  de 
microfiches 
(monographles) 


Canadian  IhMituta  for  Hiatorical  Microraproductiont  /  Inititut  Canadian  da  mieroraproduction*  hittoriqua* 


©1995 


Ttchnjcal  Mid  BIMiognphie  Notn  , 

TtM  Institutt  hat  atUniplHl  to  obttin  th*  b«t  orifliwl 
copy  milabto  for  filmini.  Futum  of  Mt  copy  wMch 
may  bt  WMiographically  uniqiM.  wtiidi  may  ahar  any 
of  tlw  knatai  in  Hm  rapraduetioii.  or  whidi  may 
liinificantly  chanft  th*  uaual  nwttiod  of  f  Hmin9,  »n 
chacfcadbalow. 


0Coloiirad  conn/ 
Couwrtura  da  coulaur 


□  Cowi  danwfad/ 
CounniH*  andommagia 

□  Covan  raitocad  and/or  laminand/ 
Coinartiira  rattauria  at/ou  pallkuMa 

□  Coaar  titia  minini/ 
U  titra  da  couwtura  manqw 


I       I  Coloarad  mapi/ 


Canal  giographiquai  an  ooulaur 

□  Colourad  ink  li.a.  otiMr  than  blua  or  Mack)/ 
Encra  da  eoulaw  (i.a.  autra  qua  Maua  ou  notra) 

□  Coloorad  platai  and/or  illustrations/ 
Planchas  at/ou  illustrations  an  coulaur 

□  Bound  with  othar  matarial/ 
RalM  anc  d'autras  documants 

□  Tight  binding  may  causa  shadows  or  distortion 
along  intarior  margin/ 

U  raliura  sarria  paut  eausar  da  I'ombra  ou  da  la 
distorsion  la  long  da  la  marga  intiriaura 

□  Blank  laans  addad  during  rastoration  may  appaar 
within  tha  tam.  Whanaoar  poaiMa,  thasa  haw 
baan  omittad  from  filming/ 

II  sa  paut  qua  eartiinas  pagas  Wanchas  a|out*as 
lors  d-una  rastauration  apparaissant  dans  la  taxta. 
mais.  lorsqua  cala  ttait  possiMa.  eas  pagas  nont 
pas  *tt  filmias. 


D 


Additional  commants:/ 
Commantairts  lupplamantairas: 


Thisitam  is  f  ilmad  at  th.  reduction  ratio  chaekad  balow/ 

C.  documant  «t  film«  .u  tau>  da  reduction  im«qu«  cinJassous. 


tachniquas  at  bibliographiqun 

L-lnstitut  a  mierofilm«  la  maillaur  axamplaira  qu'il 
luiaMpossibladasaproeurar.  Las  d*uils  da  eat 
aiamplaira  qui  sunt  p«it.«tra  unrquas  du  point  da  sua 
bJMioyapbiqua.  qui  paumit  modifiar  una  ioiaga 
fWoAiita.  ou  qui  pauvant  axigar  una  modif  kation 
dans  la  mMioda  normala  da  fihnaga  sont  indtaiu«s 
ci-dassous. 

□  Colourad  pagas/ 
Pagas  da  coulaur 


D 


Pagas  damagad/ 


□  Pagas  rastorad  and/or  lamkwtad/ 
Pagas  rastauriat  at/ou  I 


0  Pages  discolourad,  stainad  or  toxad/ 
Pagas  d«color«as.  tachatias  ou  nioui, 


tachatias  ou  piquios 


□  Pagas  dalaehad/ 
Pagas  dtoch«as 

0Showthrough/ 
Transparanca 

□  Quality  of  print  varies/ 
Qualit*  in«gala  de  I'imprassion 

□  Continuous  pagination/ 
Pagination  continue 

□  Includes  indaxlesi/ 
Comprend  un  (das)  index 

Title  on  header  taken  from:/ 
le  titre  de  l'en-t«te  pra>ient: 

I       I  Title  pege  of  issue/ 


Page  da  titre  de  la  livraison 

Caption  of  issue/ 

Titre  de  dipert  da  la  livraison 

Masthead/ 

Ginarique  (piriodiquas)  da  la  livraison 


I       I  Caption  of  issue/ 


□  Masthead/ 
Ginarii 


10X 

1— 

. 

14X 

1«X 

ax 

26X 

D 

-J 

c 

J 

rj 

— 1 — 
1 

^^^ 

MX 

1«X 

ax 

7a  X 

Th*  copy  fllmad  hara  haa  baan  raproducad  thanki 
to  tha  ganaroaity  of: 

National  Library  of  Canada 


L'axainplaira  film*  fut  raproduit  grtca  i  la 
gtntroiit*  da: 

Blbllothequa  natlonala  du  Canada 


Tha  Imagaa  appaaring  hara  ara  tha  baat  quality 
poMibIa  eonaidaring  tha  eindltlon  and  lagibillty 
of  tha  original  copy  and  in  kaaplng  with  tha 
filming  contract  apacif Icationa. 


Original  coplaa  in  printad  papar  eovara  ara  fllmad 
baginning  with  tha  front  covar  and  anding  on 
tha  laat  paga  with  a  printad  or  illuatratad  impraa- 
aion,  or  tha  back  covar  whan  approprlata.  All 
othar  original  coplaa  ara  filmad  baginning  on  tha 
firat  paga  with  a  printad  or  illuatratad  Impraa- 
(ion,  ar«d  anding  on  tha  laat  paga  with  a  printad 
or  llluauatad  improaaion. 


Tha  laat  racordad  frama  on  aach  microficha 
ihall  contain  tha  lymbol  ^»  (moaning  "CON- 
TINUED"), or  tha  symbol  V  (moaning  "END"), 
whichavar  appliaa. 

Mapa,  plataa.  charts,  ate.  may  ba  fllmad  at 
diffarant  raduction  ratios.  Thosa  too  larga  to  ba 
antiraly  includad  in  ona  axposura  ara  filmad 
baginning  in  tha  uppar  laft  hand  eornar.  laft  to 
right  and  top  to  bonom.  as  many  framas  aa 
raquirad.  Tha  following  diagrama  illustrata  tha 
mathod: 


Las  imagas  suivantaa  ont  M  raproduitai  avac  la 
plus  grand  soin,  eompta  tanu  da  la  condition  at 
da  la  nattatt  da  raxamplaira  filmt.  at  an 
eonformit*  avac  las  conditions  du  contrat  da 
fllmaga. 

Laa  aiampialras  originaux  dont  la  couvartura  »n 
poplar  ast  imprimOa  sont  fllmas  an  commancant 
par  la  pramlar  plat  at  an  tarminant  soit  par  la 
darnitra  paga  qui  comporta  una  amprainta 
d'impraasion  ou  d'lllustration.  soit  par  la  sacond 
plat,  salon  la  caa.  Toua  las  sutras  sxampiairas 
originaux  sont  filmAs  an  eommancant  par  la 
pramltra  paga  qui  comporta  una  amprainta 
d'impraasion  ou  d'illuatration  at  an  tarminant  par 
la  darnitra  paga  qui  comporta  una  talia 
amprainta. 

Un  daa  symbolaa  sulvants  apparaitra  sur  la 
darniira  imaga  da  chaqua  microficha.  salon  la 
eas:  la  symboia  —^  signifia  "A  SUiVRE".  la 
symbola  ▼  signifia  "FIN". 

Laa  cartas,  planchaa,  tablaaux,  ate.  pauvsnt  itra 
filmto  *  daa  taux  da  rMuetion  difftrents. 
Lorsqua  la  documant  aat  trop  grand  pour  itra 
raproduit  an  un  saul  clich*.  il  ast  fiimO  A  partir 
da  I'angla  supiriaur  gaucha.  da  gaucha  1  droita. 
at  da  haut  an  bas.  an  pransnt  la  nombra 
d'imagaa  ntcassairs.  Laa  disgrammas  suivants 
illuatrant  la  mOthodo. 


1  2  3 


1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

MIOOCOrY   tlSOlUTION   TBI  CHAIT 

(ANSI  ond  ISO  TEST  CH«RT  No.  2) 


116        ■■■ 

12.0 


^li^ll^ 


^  /APPLIED  IIVMGE     Inc 

^^^  1653  East   Main  Slr««t 

S'.S  Rochester.    New   York         14609        USA 

r.^B  (716)  *B2  -  0300  -  Phone 

^=  (716)   2eS  -  S9S9  -  Fax 


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1  A  2    -< 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 


THE 
SECRET  SPRINGS 

By 

Harvey  O'Higgins 

Author  of 
"Fkoh  the  Liri"  Etc. 


HARPER  W  BROTHERS  PUBLISHERS 
NEW  YORK  AND  LONDON 


mil 


Tn  Srut  Spumcm 

Owijht.  i,«,.  b,  Hamir  O'HIota, 
FHa.n)  In  thi  United  Sum  of  Amaia, 


S 903 33 


CONTENTS 

aa.  Mil 

I.  Introduction      3 

II.  In  Lovb  and  Makuaob ij 

III.  In  Health 44 

IV.  In  Childhood 76 

V.  In  Hapfiness  and  Success log 

VI.  In  Theodokb  Roosevelt 139 

VII.  In  Character  and  Conduct 153 

VIII.  In  Dreams 186 

IX.  In  Rrugion 316 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 


CHAPTER  I 


INTRODUCTION 

•AFTER  aU,"  Doctor  X  said,  "the  science 
I~\.  of  medicine  is  beginning  to  be  of  some 
use.    It  IS  really  learning  how  to  cure." 

This  did  not  surprise  me.  I  had  always 
taken  it  for  granted  that  medicine  cured. 
But  he  added : 

"It  is  finding  the  secret  springs  of  health 
and  the  roots  of  happiness." 

And  ttiat  made  me  sit  up.  I  knew  that 
iJoctor  X  was  a  diagnostician  who  had  a  high 
place  m  his  profession.  I  had  learned,  by 
recent  expenence  in  my  own  person,  that  he 
had  more  medical  skill  than  .-my  other  phy- 
sician I  had  been  able  to  stumble  on  in  some 
ten  years  of  painful  traipsing  roundabout 
among  them.  We  had  struck  up  a  visiting 
acquamtance  after  office  hours,  and  I  had 
found  him  a  man  of  philosophic  canniness  in 
the  discussion  of  human  aflfairs.    And  when 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 

he  said  that  medicine  was  finding  the  "secret 
spnngs"  of  health  and  the  "roots"  of  happi- 
n^naturaUy  I  began  to  ask  eager  questions. 
What  were  the  secret  springs  of  health? 
And  what  were  the  roots  of  happiness? 

His  answer  grew  and  lengthened  until  it 
spread  itself  over  as  many  nights  as  the 
stones  that  Scheherazade  told  the  Sultan. 
It  seemed  to  me  more  interesting,  too,  than 
the  Arabian  tales.    It  was  not  merely  fan- 
tastic, incredible,  miraculous  indeed.    It  was 
scientific  and  convincing  also.    It  was  a  new 
department  of  human  knowledge  as  aston- 
ishing to  me  as  the  modem  wonders  of  elec- 
tucity  might  be  to  a  man  of  the  Middle 
Ages.    And  it  was  more  than  this.    It  was 
the  explanation  of  a  thousand  mysteries  in 
human  character  and  conduct  that  had  puz- 
zled me  as  a  professing  fictionist  and  an 
amateur  student  of  social  problems.    It  was 
an  answer  to  such  diverse  questions  as  these, 
for  instance: 

Why  do  the  daughters  of  the  rich  so  often  many 
chai^eurs  and  the  sons  of  peera  mate  with  chorus 
girls? 

Why  is  there  such  peace  and  contentment  in 
smoking  tobacco  or  in  chewing  gum? 

Why  does  a  man  on  the  battlefield  go  blind  with 
shel-shock  and  recover  his  sight  when  his  hospital- 
»mp  is  toipedoed  and  he  jumps  overboard? 
4 


INTRODUCTION 

How  can  a  rdigious  belief  work  the  miracle  (rf  a 
faith  cure? 

Why  do  young  boys  usually  fall  in  love  first  with 
older  women,  and  what  is  the  attraction  that  dderly 
rou^  have  for  young  girls? 

Why  do  we  so  often  seem  to  hate  most  the  penon 
whom  we  most  love? 

What  is  the  source  of  the  ahnoet  universal  ad- 
miration for  that  great  conquering  enemy  of  nan- 
Icind,  Napoleon  Bonaparte? 

Why  is  an  artistic  genius  so  often  the  most  thin- 
skinned  and  sensitive  and  yet  the  most  arrogant  of 
persons? 

Why  has  Puritanism  so  failed  as  a  religion?  And 
why  do  our  /jnerican  churches  hold  the  women  more 
easily  than  chey  hold  the  men? 

What  is  the  explanation  of  love  at  first  sight? 
Of  the  common  illusion  among  lovers  that  they 
have  met  the  beloved  one  in  a  previous  exist- 
ence? Of  the  poets'  theory  that  a  loving  couple 
are  two  halves  of  a  divided  personality  now  happily 
reunited? 

Why  are  so  many  people  bom  to  a  religious  &ith 
or  a  political  opinion  which  they  subsequently  in- 
dorse and  support  with  all  the  authority  of  reason  ? 

Why  does  a  wife  so  often  think  of  her  husband  as 
"a  great  child,"  even  while  he  has  exactly  the  same 
superior  parental  attitude  toward  her? 

Why  are  men  and  women  such  bundles  of  con- 
tradictions, acting  against  their  recognized  interests 
and  their   expressed   convictions,   yielding  to  un- 
reasonable impulses  ungovernably  with  their  eyes 
5 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 
op-.  «d  Mad  to  motiv*  «  th«n.elye,  tJutt  .,« 

«    MeooWeaAge    of  happtaos  «,d  alertnewof 

MOW dowunhappinew  produce  tU  health?    Whvk 

51,'^r'^'f  *'-*''    WhyfethenZn" 
of  wcce-  «,  oonnnonly  followed  by  deep  dep«S^ 

Z»^:Sr^J'  -^  ^"'^  "•d  labor  ^  ^ 
nmgi  wben  we  fed  great  emotion? 

^d  so  on,  and  so  forth,  almost  without 

thl  ?ir°*  "fn  that  I  put  these  riddles  to 
the  doctor  and  that  he  answered  them  By 
no  means.  He  talked  of  cases  and  cures  of 
the  theory  of  medicine  upon  which  he  wi 

which  he  was  proving  that  the  theory  wa^ 

He  estabhshed  broad  conclusions  aboS^ 
and  women,  their  minds  and  bodi«  tW 
conduct,  their  opinions,  their  chaSSsaS 
their  relations  to  one  another.  TS'«^ 
d^ons  lay  the  answer,  to  the  q^tSs 
ttlL^'''""*^*^^-  B^tthecc^cluSS 
J^!^^.-  ^^  ''°  "^"^  to  him  thaTthe 
^«ahzat.ons  about  art  which  a  painted 
nught  throw  off  in  talking  of  how  he  bS 
6 


INTRODUCTION 

painted  one  picture  or  another.  The  <mre 
wag  the  thing  that  interested  him.  A  series 
of  srnnlar  cures  led  him  back  to  this  or  that 
s<«ret  spring  of  health,  as  a  placer  miner 
wiU  follow  traces  of  free  gold  up  a  stream  to 
the  pocket  from  which  they  have  been 
washed.  And  out  of  this  pocket  he  dug  the 
generahzations,  about  health  and  character 
and  happiness  and  conduct  and  opinion  and 
behef ,  that  seemed  to  me  the  richest  nuggets 
of  wisdom  that  any  philosophy  of  life  had 
ever  offered  me. 

I  kept  clamoring  that  the  thing  should  be 
wntten.  But  there  were  diflSculties.  The 
etiiics  of  the  medical  profession  were  one 
obstacle.  He  could  not  advertise  himself 
and  he  could  not  let  me  advertise  him.  He 
could  write  of  medicine  only  in  the  accepted 
manner  of  the  profession,  for  publication  in 
a  scientific  review.  Useless  to  damn  the 
ethics  of  the  trade!  All  his  cases  came  to 
hun  from  other  doctors  for  diagnosis.  And 
advertising  was  of  no  use  to  him.  His  repu- 
tation was  already  so  established  that  he  had 
all  the  work  that  he  could  do. 

Furthermore,  his  whole  philosophy  of 
health  and  happiness  and  the  wise  conduct 
of  Me  could  not  be  weU  supported  without 
detaUmg  the  cases  from  which  he  had  derived 
It.  These  cases  were  private  and  confi- 
7 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 


owrfewional.    H^^^  of  humanity  in  the 

thegenenSwS  "?»*«««>•  or  in 
might  ^       **  P"^""*  exhortation,  at  you 

who  send  me  cases  heuS  how  iJ'h^-^''"^ 
and  cured  some  of  ««  1  ^  ^^J^  diagnosed 
would  su8P^m»^*r."°*  difficult,  they 
the  U^^t^?^}^«J^^-^>^yfr^ 
medical  mart3T"  P"P°*  *«  be  a 

a»Jh3e^3?^^S5*i"^P^ts 

the  most  faS';ro  J'^^r-  ^  ^^^^  °* 
began  as  a  gen«S  Zj^-  P^y^^ans.  He 
a  specialist  r^  P«ctit,oner  and  became 

as  an  anny  suil^     cff  *^  ««  orthodox 
and  of  heaJtS2"th«^*  T^  °^  ^°^- 

renting  iTS;  ^  f^^^^  and  experi- 

chology  and  tttt  f^l-^^l  °^  """bid  psy- 

oance.    He  became  a  doctor 


INTRODUCTION 

ofthe  mind  as  well  as  the  body.    He 
b^m  to  work  cures  in  obscure  and  stub- 
b<wn  cases  of  nervous  disorder  that  had 
baffled  him  in  the  past;  and  these  cures 
were  achieved  by  reordering  the  lives  of 
hM  patients    and    by  re-establishing  their 
drfective  personalities,"  as  he  expresses  it. 
He  began,  in  fact,  to  make  secret  ex- 
cursions into  the  forbidden  land  of  mind 
cum  and  "mental  healing"  and  the  mir- 
acles of  faiui.    He  went  as  a  scientist  with 
all  the  uistruments  of  his  profession,  study- 
mg  mental  phenomena;  but  he  came  back 
with  a  lot  of  astonishing  dicta.    Such  as 
these: 

A  suppresMd  feeling  of  moral  undeanness  will  ex- 
PWM  itself  in  a  Bldn  disease  almost  infallibly  1 
fcid  an  incredible  number  of  cases  of  skin  diseue 
ttat  cannot  be  permanently  cured  except  by  curing 
the  mind  that  causes  them. 

Shame  or  irritation  or  resentmert  or  fear  shows 
itaelf  ordi-arily  m  tie  blushing  or  flushing  or  paling 
of  tto  face.  The  lining  sldn  of  the  body  seems  to 
be  almost  as  affectible  as  the  exterior  skin.  It,  too, 
wiMi^jster  these  emotions  secretly,  if  their  outward 
expression  is  suppressed.  And  it  registers  them  as 
digertave  disorders  that  cannot  be  finally  cured  until 
their  cause  has  been  removed  from  the  mind. 

An  instinctive  emotion,  being  repressed,  becomes 
at  once  entangled  with  tUt  switchboard  of  the 
»  9 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 

v««etative  nervous  system  which  controls  the  un- 
"»saous  bodily  pnxssses.  The  consequent  disorder 
wJl  produce  all  the  symptoms  of  functional  dis- 
turbance  due  to  disease. 

Toric  goiter  among  women  and  certain  forms  of 
hear  <We  among  men  are  a  common  fear  neurosis. 
.  A  man  wiU  react  to  a  threat  against  his  mo.^  safety 
eaictly  as  an  ammal  will  react  to  a  threat  against  ita 
Phys.cd  safety^  The  moral  danger  in  tfe  mind 
^tJJe^vedmo.dertocu..pe„nane„U,a, 

Doctor  X  would  say  of  himself:  "  Half  mv 
tune  I  m  not  really  a  doctor.  I'm  a  mar- 
nage  adjuster."  Or,  "  I  could  make  most 
of  my  patients  weU  fast  enough  if  I  could 
make  tiem  happy."  And  once  he  amazed 
me  by  reporting:  "I  can't  cure  So-and-so 
Se^°"^^  Sieves  in  the  immortality  of 

The  orthodox  physician  divides  all  diseases 
into  two  classes:  they  are  either  "real"  or 
im^mary."  If  they  are  real,  he  will 
undertake  to  cure  them.  If  they  are  imagi- 
nary-well, they  don't  exist  if  they  Se 
im^maiy.  Doctor  X's  realization  that  no 
such  hne  of  distinction  can  be  drawn  is  not 
a  new  discoverj-  It  is  older  than  the 
scioice  of  medicine  itself.  What  I  found  new 
m  him  was  this:  he  had  largely  uncovered 

lO 


INTRODUCTION 

the  mechanism  by  which  the  mind  aflfects 
the  health,  and  he  had  learned  how  to 
protect  the  health  from  being  so  affected. 
He  could  not  merely  do  this  himself,  for 
the  partictilar  disease  that  he  was  treating; 
he  could  also  direct  his  patient  how  to  save 
himself  from  subsequent  disorders  due  to  the 
same  cause;  and  the  simi  and  body  of  these 
directions  made  up  his  system  of  mental 
hygiene.  It  is  p  system  that  concerns  itself 
not  only  with  health,  but  with  success  in 
affairs,  with  happiness,  with  love  and  mar- 
riage, with  one's  ability  to  do  one's  work, 
with  education  and  the  training  of  children, 
with  ethics  and  religion  and  social  psy- 
chology, and  even  with  some  of  the  problems 
of  government. 

If  all  this  had  been  merely  the  theory  of 
an  argumentative  philosopher,  I  might  have 
listened  politely  and  swallowed  my  yawns. 
But  it  was  not  a  theory.  It  was  a  practice. 
It  was  a  combination  of  diagnosis  and  cure. 
It  was  a  collection  of  facts  that  permitted 
of  one  conclusion  only. 

And  the  conclusion  was,  in  part,  that  every 
normal  human  being,  after  the  first  few 
months  of  life,  has  two  minds:  one  the 
intelligent  conscious  mind  of  which  he  is 
aware;  the  other  an  imconscious  animal 
mind  of  which  he  commonly  knows  nothing 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 
—not  even  the  fact  that  he  has  it  w;= 
^o,^  ^d  is  the  .nind  'w.Uw£ch^ 
thmks,  or  believes  that  he  thinks.  Hfaun 
consaous  mind  is  a  mind  of  aS  inSS' 
of  mhented  aptitudes,  of  ra^^  S 
unconscious  mind  eovems  hi7  l^Z:  ?^ 
beliefs,  his  charactS  S?  htlth^S  Jf 
^PPmess  much  mora'poweSSy'tt^^'d^ 

uvities   his  conscious   mind   usuaUy  do^ 
Th^lSf'  w^  '■  ■?■  °™  <'i«ov«j,  other 

piuiosopners.     The   Russian   novelist    TV«, 


INTRODUCTION 

and  his  following  of  psychoanalysts  have 
founded  a  whole  school  of  psychology  and 
of  medicine  upon  it,  and  contributed  an 
enormous  library  of  research  and  argument 
to  its  study  and  understanding. 

I  found  that  Doctor  X  was  well  aware  of 
all  this  previous  researci.  and  that  he  had 
availed  himself  of  everything  in  the  Freudian 
theory  that  could  help  him.  But  he  was  not 
a  Freudian.  He  was  not  purely  a  psycho- 
analyst. Unlike  the  Freudians,  he  did  not 
confine  himself  to  studying  chiefly  the  sup- 
pressions of  the  sex  instinct  in  the  sub- 
conscious mind.  He  had  found  that  the 
suppression  of  any  one  of  a  half-dozen  other 
instincts  would  affect  the  health  in  exactly 
the  same  way.  And,  by  this  enlargement 
of  the  Freudian  theory,  he  took  the  curse  of 
excessive  sexuahty  off  the  unconscious  mind, 
and  he  made  it  possible  to  discuss  the  whole 
business,  without  offense,  in  unprofessional 
print. 

I  kept  msisting,  as  I  say,  that  it  should 
be  so  discussed— that  a  matter  of  such  im- 
portance to  the  common  mart  should  be 
inade  known  to  him.  And  out  of  that  in- 
sistence the  following  book  has  finally  arisen. 
I  have  protected  Doctor  X  from  a  breach  of 
professional  ethics  by  concealing  his  name. 
I  have  so  disguised  my  accounts  of  his  cases 
13 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 

b^SitVc  r*  J  ^"^^  °°*  attempted  to 
T  w,!  .  •  J  '^  exhaustive,  or  authoritative 
wJ^  ^1^  ^^^^y  *°  °^e  clear  aSL 

iLtl?na?XtH-Xsle?£3: 
addition  made  to  the  s,^  of  hunm^S 
edge  smce  Darwin  formulated^  SeoTy 
of  evolution  and  the  descent  of  m^       ^ 


lil 


CHAPTER  II 


IN   LOVE   AND  MARRIAGE 


THERE  came,  one  day,  to  Doctor  X,  a 
very  able  and  well-known  lawyer  who 
had  apparently  been  breaking  under  a  strain 
of  overwork.  "  As  a  matter  of  fact, ' '  Doctor  X 
says,  "I  soon  learned  from  conversation  with 
him  that  the  strain  was  probably  caused  by 
a  weight  of  unhappiness  in  his  married  life. 
In  treating  him,  I  noticed  that  he  had  an 
odd  interest  in  the  subject  of  hands.  He 
remarked  mine,  which,  he  said,  gave  him 
a  feeling  of  confidence  and  seauity  .  .  . 
although  my  hands  are  rather  delicate  than 
powerful.  He  declared  that  he  could  read 
character  from  hands,  particularly  the  char- 
acter of  a  woman.  His  own  hands  were 
immaculately  cared  for  and  always  freshly 
manicured.  When  I  met  his  wife  I  noticed 
that  she  had  hands  of  remarkable  beauty 
and  that  she  was  rather  proudly  conscious 
of  them.  I  concluded  that  hs  had  probably 
made  her  so  by  his  prais;e  of  them." 
It  seemed  evident  that  this  interest  in 
15 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 


aware  of  the  oriL  5U'    W   ^  Tf  ""■ 

Hel^led  S!f  r  '?™at'"8  incident, 
wife  hVVas  at  a  c^  ^1'""!  ^«  '^^t  his 
woman  to  wh^^'S  P"*^  J^th  a  young 
They  placed  Ss  at  tTf  '^"^  ^«^«^ 

and  his  fuS  Sfe  Xv^"""'  °PP°«'t«  him, 
of  his  oppoSSt     H,?7    *L*l*''^  Partner 

well.  ffis7uT4  S^e  rSd'^'-r  p^^y 

success.  He  becam»  •  •?  vT^  '^'^h  great 
to  whom  S  S^gS  L"f  .*^'  ^' 
evening  ended  h^qSSS'v^h  h  "^""^  *?" 
gave  him  back  hk  pt!^  *°  ^^'^  ^<^  she 

a  week  he  SST"^*  "^S-    Within 
of  his  presSTSr    *'  ™«  *°  **«  fi^Ser 

abtySut^Snd^"- ^^  •- ^  --J^- 

w  J  fet'ltSite.;' m"??  '."  ^^«  -- 
know,  when  »!^"^*°  ^^'•-    Po  you 

night:icoSi:?Lf^^^  ^t  *^* 

"were  her  hand^^rSy?--'''  ^^'^^^  ^«^' 
He  stared  and  blinked  a  moment.  "TTaafs 


IN  LOVE  AND  MARRIAGE 

funny,"  he  said.  "I  was  just  thinking  of 
the  contrast  between  them — and  how  it 
showed  at  the  card  table.  She  had  very 
short,  stubby  fingers,  and  the  index  finger 
of  her  right  hand  was  withered.  I  remember 
the  thing  got  on  my  nerves.  I  wanted  to 
stop  playing  rather  than  have  her  expose  it." 
"A  psychologist,"  Doctor  X  said,  "would 
conclude  that  you  had  translated  a  criticism 
of  her  hands  into  a  complaint  about  the  way 
in  which  she  'played  her  hands.'  " 

He  thought  it  over.  "Undoubtedly,"  he 
agreed.  "I  felt  at  the  time  that  I  was  un- 
reasonable —  irritable  —  impatient  —  but  I 
couldn't  control  myself." 

"  r^ow,  tell  me,"  Doctor  X  said, "  what  is  it 
that  has  given  you  this  fixation  about  hands? 
It  must  have  occurred  very  early  in  your 
childhood.  If  it  wasn't  ycur  mother,  it  may 
have  been  your  father,  or  a  nurse,  or  some 
relative  who  took  the  place  of  a  parent — 
some  atmt,  perhaps.    What?  " 

He  had  been  slowly  shaking  his  head, 
reflectively.  Suddenly  he  stopped.  His  face 
lit  up.  "I  know!"  he  said.  "I  know!  It 
was  that  vase!" 

"A  vase?" 

"Yes.    A  vase.    It  used  to  belong  to  my 
mother.    It's    a    very   beautifully    carved 
marble  hand — a  woman's  hand — holding  a 
17 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 


my  mother's,  and  forTu  ^°"^-  ^t  was 
Jdea  that  it  w^rekllJa  i°n^  ^f"'  ^  ''^  the 
hand.  She  had  S  «f  fl°^'"y°'°ther's 
Iwasabouta7e^Sj°!  '"^ercuJosis  when 

Pve  it  to  me  as  soon^ %  ^"''^  t^em  to 
And  she  told  me^iTbl'^*'-^^'"  *°  '«d- 
me  not  to  foi^et  hi-  i^S^  *",!*'  ^^  asked 
feant  a  lot  to  *^-  aSr^^^' J^at  letter 

I  used  to  think,  'St?th/H'  %  ^?^^  *^« 
the  letter '-and  teke  it  to^S*^*^^ 
'^hen  I  was  lonely-Ster  I^  5^  ^*^  ">« 
oranything-you  tnfw!!,?  ^^^  ^^^  "^ked 
one  found  me  vSh  itTriTf  ^  ^*  '«*  some 
her  hand  at  all        A^,  *°'^  '"^  '*  wasn't 
'I-.-  •  •  Ftmny"thinJ^^Ev'"^°««' all  about 
thmk  of  her  let^fthfl^ /"'''•  ^hen  I 
hand  as  having  ZLl^  °'  '"^^  -^rble 

f-t'Sri2!"LiJ,f,Hehadbeenin 
'It  not  only'broK  hJ^  ^  ™"hle  hand. 
«^1  with  wh^j  he  n^i?',"  engagement  to  a 
DoctorXpointsJut^??^*^:!,^  h-f!^  happy," 
to  a  girl  with  whom  hannTn  ^  ^""  ^^^^ly 
PracticaUy  impossSle    »f     '"'  ^°^  him,  was 

n^«ndi„g    that"^"  he  VT'',^  ^^'  ^^^ 
--herly.   and  devotS   ^o^ritS' 


IN  LOVE  AND  MARRIAGE      " 

never  had  been,  and  never  could  be,  that 
Mrt  of  person.  He  fell  in  love  with  her  at 
first  sight— 'compulsively,'  as  we  say.  If 
anyone  at  the  card  table  could  have  seen 
into  his  mind  and  warned  him  against  being 
hypnotized  by  a  pair  of  pretty  hands,  he 
would  probably  have  replied:  'She's  a 
beautiful  character— I  can  tell  it  by  her 
hands.  I  know  it  intuitively.  I've  always 
been  that  way.'" 

Intuitively!  That  is  the  word.  When  we 
say  we  know  a  thing  "intuitively"  we  mean 
that  we  know  it  without  knowing  how  we 
know  it— by  some  mental  faculty  that  is  not 
reason,  nor  deduction,  nor  conscious  thought 
at  all.  And  by  so  saying  we  recognize  the 
existence  of  what  science  now  calls  "the 
subconscious  mind."  But  if  it  is  from  this 
subconscious  mind  that  we  get  our  "intui- 
tions," where  does  the  subconscious  mind 
get  them?  Where  did  the  lawj-er,  the  slave 
of  the  marble  hand,  get  his  "intuition" 
about  hands? 

When  you  fall  asleep  you  lose  conscious- 
ness. Your  conscious  mind  ceases  to  work. 
It  rests  and  is  refreshed.  But  you  dreajm! 
Some  part  of  your  mind  continues  to  work 
busily,  imagining  scenes,  inventing  or  recall- 
ing incidents,  enjoying  fantastic  adventures. 
You  may  remember  these  when  you  wake 
19 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 
*.rp  or  you  may  not.    That  i<.  *«  ~ 

ever     And  among  those  pictures  we  find 

punous  thing  is  that  th7  i^e  is  not  t' 

Si'T^^"'^  -^  of  nose  and 

S;*^?^*t^-^e^--"ed:^^ 
Whole  emotion  of  instinctive  love,  s^,^ 


IN  LOVE  AND  MARRIAGE 

later  years,  the  sight  of  any  physical  charac- 
teristic of  the  mother  may  have  the  same 
effect  on  him. 

TTiat  is  why  the  lawyer  was  married  by  a 
marble  hand.  His  "mother  image"  had 
been  formed  around  that  one  feature,  a 
beautiful  hand.  The  sight  of  such  a  hand 
aroused  in  him  all  the  emotion  of  instinctive 
uffection.  He  was  tmaware  of  this,  because 
it  took  place  in  his  unconscious  mind.  He 
explained  it  to  himself  by  arguing  that  hands 
were  an  index  to  character.  He  had  for- 
gotten about  the  marble  hand.  He  did  not 
remember  it  tmtil  Doctor  X's  questions  re- 
called it  to  him  and  brotight  it  back  from  his 
unconscious  memory. 

Does  all  this  seem  far-fetched?  Well,  let  us 
leave  it  for  a  moment  and  go  with  Doctor  X. 
He  has  a  patient  who  was  married  not  by 
a  marble  hand,  but  by  a  red  lamp. 

"He  is  rather  unusual,"  Doctor  X  says, 
"because  he  remembers  quite  clearly  the 
mother  image  which  he  carried  in  his  mind 
in  his  boyhood  days.  It  was  a  picture  of 
his  mother  as  a  beautiftil  young  woman, 
slender  and  graceful,  with  smiling  brown  eyes 
and  wavy  hair.  I  wished  to  follow  the 
replacement  of  that  image  in  his  mind  by 
the  image  of  the  imaginary  sweetheart,  who 
usually  succeeds  the  mother  image  in  the 


THE  SECRrr  SPRINGS 

wnetner  be  had  ever  had  a  tnonfoi  «;_* 
of  an  ideal  girl  in  his  ycS."         ^  ^"^"^ 
He  could  not  recall  any.    No     H»  h-^ 

He  was  sure  of  that,  until  Doctor  X  sooke 
of  W  not  as  an  ideal  girl,  but  as  "a  cSSS 

"Ob  yes,"  he' said.     "Of  courae     Ire- 

a  kind  of  Turkish  itx«n,  with  mS  L^ 
tapestries— all  of  it  in  a  rJ  Jr^  t 

"S^'ho*,?  f  describing  it  amusedly. 
The  light  made  her  look  like  a  perfect 
peach-shming  on  her  haii-«,rt  of^w 
hau;-and  her  eyes  were  bro^.  V^tS 
shadow,  and    she  was-^h,  gee.  shT  was 

say  to  myself:  'No,  you  don't!    No  such 

§e°:/°^^-';  And  say,  when  I  iwl" 

q„£,;*°PI^-    H«  looked  at  the  doctor 

"Why,   that's  so!"  he  said      "I'd  for 
gotten  that!    Well,  I'U  be  jiggered." 

33 


IN  LOVE  AND  MARRIAGE 
"PotBiotten  what?" 

"Why,  the  first  time  I  took  Alice  home 
from  a  dance,"  (Alfce  is  his  wife.)  "I  had 
never  been  in  the  house  before,  and  they 
had  one  of  those  red  lamps  in  the  hall— a 
big  entrance  hall  with  Turkish  rugs  and 
hangrngs-and  when  she  took  off  her  evening 
clo^  and  stood  with  the  red  light  shining 
on  her  hair  that  way,  smiling  as  she  said 
good  night  to  me,  it  just  went  through  me 
hke-well,  I  think,  if  I'd  been  able  to  find 
my  voice,  I'd  have  proposed  to  her  on  the 
^t.  I  know  I  went  away  convinced  that 
she  was  the  one  woman  m  the  world  for 
me.  And  I  was  right.  We've  been  as 
happy  as  any  two  people  ever  could  be." 

Apparently  he  had  never  before  connected 
the  lamp  in  the  hall  with  the  lamp  in  his 
dream;  and  he  had  never  noticed  the  like- 
ness between  the  real  girl  and  the  dream 
girl— much  less  related  either  of  them  to  the 
"mother  im^e"  with  its  "smiling  brown 
eyes  and  wavy  hair."  When  Doctor  X 
asked  him  whether  his  wife  reminded  him 
of  his  mother  at  all  he  replied :  "No.  Not 
at  all.    Not  in  any  way." 

Subsequently    he    spoke    rather    impa- 
tiently of  one  of  his  wife's  characteristics; 
that  she  was  always  oversympathetic  with 
people — "not  her  own  sort  of  people." 
93 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 

He  said:  "She  always  goes  out  of  her 
way  to  say  'Good  morning'  to  the  park 
pohcemaii.  and  stops  to  talk  to  those 
neglected-looking  kids  you  see  on  the  street, 
and  she  used  to  take  flower  seeds  up  to  an 
old  flagman  on  a  railroad  crossing." 

"And  that  irritates  you?"  the  doctor 
asked. 

"No,"  he  Slid,  "it  doesn't  irritate  me 
exactly,  but-I  don't  know.  I  feel  sort  of 
jealous,  I  think." 

It  seemed  an  odd  ground  for  jealousy. 
Ihe  doctor  changed  the  subject,  but  a  few 
moments  later— when  he  was  sure  that  his 
patient  _had  forgotten  the  connection— he 
asked.  Were  you  ever  jealous  of  your 
mother— as  a  boy?" 

"Sure  I  was,"  he  laughed.  "I  remember, 
once,  when  I  saw  her  kiss  a  neighbor's  boy 
I  was  so  sore  I  laid  for  the  kid  and  beat  him 

That  would  account  for  his  feeling  about 
IMS  wife  s  mterest  in  the  children  on  the 
street.  But  what  about  the  park  poUceman 
and  the  others? 

_  "I  mean  older  people,"  Doctor  X  said- 
poor  people  and  men  in  uniform  " 
"WeU,"  he  recoUected,   "I  came  home 
trom  school  one  day  and  found  mother  with 
a  couple  of  poUcemen  in  the  dining  room, 
34 


IN  LOVE  AND  MARRIAG:: 

gi^  them  coflfee  and  sandwic  les.  Then 
had  been  a  fire  up  the  street,  an  !  they  wer, 
dripping  water  all  over  everything.  I  ain  k 
that  was  what  made  me  mad-the  way  thev 
WCTe  mussmg  things  up.    And  the  fire  wa^ 

l"^.  I  °'**'.  *°  ™y^'  'I  g«ess  they 
wwen  t  such  a  pair  of  heroes,  even  if  they 
did  get  wet  •  and  I  didn't  see  why  she  was 
maJang  such  a  fuss  about  them." 

"It  was  characteristic  of  her,  was  it?" 
^^doctor  asked,  "to  do  things  for  people. 

^JIPX^^'"   -f  f^^-    "^^^  ^as  a  good 
deal  hke  my  wife  in  that  respect." 

Here,  then,  was  another  subconscious 
mother  image  that  had  acted  as  a  match- 
maker. But  you  will  notice  that  the  young 
lover,  m  his  daydreams,  had  added  a  red 
lamp,  and  that  the  lamp  became  the  "sym- 

,  }l  ■'^^J*  ^^  «"°t'°n  of  love  was 
exploded  m  him.  You  will  notice,  too,  that 
he  was  jealous  of  his  wife  whenever  she 
duphcat«l  an  action  that  had  made  him 
jealous  of  his  mother,  although  it  was  absurd 
for  him  to  be  jealous  of  such  actions  in  his 
wife,  and  he  knew  it. 

r,  "^  ^*"^  ^"^^  P*""^*  is  not  necessary," 
Doctor  X  points  out,  "to  fom  this  parent 
mage.  It  may  be  formed  from  pictures,  or 
me  repcMts  of  others;  or  it  may  take  the 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 


aspect  of  a  nurse  or  a  raardian     n,,^ 

■»^e  hi„  jeate  of  ht^lt;5^^  *^* 

the  outwani  appJanT^p^"*- 
sprung  on  the  consc  ous  mind  of  a  ^^ 

«t  fiS  »5hf^.f '  <«l'l«««<>»  »f  love 
wasftiSi     '^T  "^^  *'">«  "ml  table 

fm™  li  ®  affections  could  save  him 

"-  ThisTsrrr^^p"^-  °"««^ 

Wind  ■■It  fe^?^^^^  '"^J'  ^«  ^y-  "Love  is 
ma.      It  IS  the  unconscious,  unreasoning, 


IN  LOVE  AND  MARRIAGE 
instinctive  mind  that  is  operating,  and  the 
r^nmg  mind  jobs  it  only  to  explain,  to 
make  reasonable,  to  "rationalize"  (as  the 
psychologists  say)  the  emotions  by  which 
reason  is  stampeded-just  as  the  lawyer  had 
rationalized  the  effect  of  fine  hands  on  his 
affections  by  arguing  that  hands  are  an  index 
01  character. 

And  the  presence  of  this  dream  image  in 
the  subconscious  mind  accounts  also  for 
some  other  common  delusions  of  love 

It  accounts,  for  instance,  for  the  ro- 
niantic  belief  of  the  poet  that  he  has  met 
his  beloved  one  in  another  life.  "When  I 
was  a  long  in  Babylon  and  you  were  a 
Chnstian  slave-"  That  other  life  is  the 
dream  life  of  the  subconscious  mind  in 
which  the  poet  has  known  the  image  that 
now  appears  before  him  in  the  person  of  his 
sweetheart. 

It  accounts  for  the  poetical  theory  that 
the  lover  is  m  search  of  the  other  half  of  his 
incomplete  personaUty,  and  that  true  love 
consists  m  the  union  of  two  halves  of  a 

pmonahty  fitting  as  perfectly  as  the  divided 
com  of  the  lovers  in  the  fairytale.  The  two 
halves  that  fit  are  the  actual  image  of  the 
sweetheart  and  the  dream  image  in  the 
lover's  nund. 
And  it  accounts  for  many  of  those  to- 
a? 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 


mantle  mysteries,  and  compulsions,  and  de- 
moniac powere  that  have  been  attributed 

^plnH     f  ^uT^  love-the  power  to 

delude,  to  overwhelm  reason,  to  nullify  ex 
penence  and  generally  to  make  the  lover 
behave  like  a  victim  of  h>-pnosis,  a  blind 
puppet,  a  ndiculous  marionette 

DoctorX^ys:  "  I  have  a  patient  who  has 
been  ideally  happy  in  her  married  life.  She 
w^  also  ideally  happy  with  her  father. 
She  tells  me:  'He  never  criticized  a  woman 
m  his  life.  I  could  always  go  to  him  and 
get  anythmg  I  wanted.  He  never  whipped 
me.  He  was  always  frani.  I  never  hS 
reason  to  hide  anything  from  him.'  " 

He  died  when  sho  was  sixteen.  Doctor  X 
wished  to  trace  the  transference  of  this  father 
image  to  her  husband.  He  asked  how  she 
nad  come  to  marry. 

"I  always  had  lots  of  admirera,"  she  said 
ti     ".Tt  ^^  ^y  preference  for  any  of 
them  mtil  I  met  Royce,"    Royce  is  her 
husb^d.     "I   liked   him   the   moment   he 
stepped  on  the  dancing  floor.    He  was  taU 
and  dark  and  slender.    He  had  the  best  face. 
And  there  was  an  air  of  absolute  cleanliness 
about  lum  that  I  learned  later  was  true  rf 
his  mmd  as  well." 
"How  tall  was  he?"  the  doctor  asked 
He  s  SIX  feet  two." 


IN  LOVE  AND  MARRIAGE 
"His    clean-mindedness    was    like 


your 


father's 

''Yes.    Exactly." 

''What  was  your  father  like,  physically?" 

He  was  tall  and  dark  and  slender.    H" 

wore  a  beard,  but  he  had  dean-cut  features." 

'How  do  you  know?    Did  you  pver  see 

him  without  the  beard?" 

"No,  but  mother  had  a  picture  of  him  as 
a  young  man,  and  he  had  the  cleanest  face  " 
"How  tall  was  he?" 
"Six  feet  three  inches." 
Here  the  role  and  make-up  were  all  ready 
for  the  actor  who  could  carry  them  off. 
The  moment  he  stepped  on  the  stage  the 
herome  of  the  love  drama  began  at  once  to 
play  her  part  opposite  him.    Since  he  de- 
veloped the  necessary  qualities  of  character 
to  stabilize  the  instinctive  attraction,  the 
love  has  been  permanent  and  the  happiness 
endurmg. 

It  is  not  always  necessary,  however,  for 
the  actor  to  have  the  necessary  qualities  of 
diaracter.  By  some  mechanism  of  projec- 
taon,  those  qualities  may  be  stripped  from 
the  dream  man  and  foisted  upon  the  lover. 
He  may  be  dressed  up  in  the  borrowed 
garments  of  the  heroine's  mental  image  with- 
tmt  the  least  discomfort  to  her.  She  will 
be  blind  to  his  faults,  without  any  senile  of 
I  *9 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 

infatuations  of  voun<T  c^if '  «  niatinfe 
the  latter  pr2eL  LTS  • '"^^  ^"^^  ^ 
valuable  Proc^   foMt' A'trthf ^h^'^ 

relations  with  her  father     Thff  ^       ^P*" 

the  image  is  call^  a  •'!^^  •    *=^^?«  "> 

age  IS  called  a    rejuvenation." 

aere.    The  point  is  that  she  consideredh«^ 

anothSdaJ?"  ""^  ""^^  ""^  »>"«band 

Why  not? 

It  was  not  at  aU  clear  why  not.    The 
30 


IN  LOVE  AND  MARRIAGE 

^^^  *^*  ^  ^^  *«^«t  him  seemed 
S^f  °'*^;.  ^^^  ^°^i^d  to  the  fact 
that  he  was  the  sort  of  man  he  was.  and  not 
some  other  sort  of  man. 

^Jtlu°^^l  ^?^  ^^^  conversation  by 
askmg  her  whether  her  father  was  stiU  alive 
No,    sherephed.    "He  died  when  I  was 
only  three  years  old." 

uiJiS  "^fu""  f}^'  "^^^  ^^"^^  be  your 
hl^j,  ^  'f"? ^'^^  °^^"be  him  to  me- 
nis  physical  characteristics." 

She  described  him  rather  vividly,  laughing 
He  returned  to  the  question  o   her  hSf- 

"^^^^^^/l""^*^-    ThenhelsJ^', 
WLat  did  your  father  look  like? " 
She  replied  with  an  equally  vivid  de 

smption  of  her  father,  IhoughTe  ht 

^oT^.^^^t'^t''^  "^  y°^g  *hat  she  could 
not  possibly  have  remembered  him.    And 
stranger  still,  her  description  of  hei^  fathe^ 
was   almost  woM  for  word,  a  repStion  o 
^%^P^^oi  her  ideal  of  a  husband 

Doctor  X  pomted  out  this  oddity  to  her. 
She  seemed  bewildered  by  it.  She  did  n?t 
Wwhereshe  had  acquired  the  vivid  pict^e 

invit^^^'     ^t.^8«est«i.    "you  have 
invented  m  your  childhood  a  'father  image- 
s' 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 

J^itToT?'*^  ^  •''*'  °'  "^  •  *»«« 

^LJrCZ^-    "E-'J-tJy  that's  i„^ 

"And  in  your  later  youth  you  have  «n- 

Well,  then,"  the  doctor  said,  "does  it 
occur  to  you  that  you  are  unhappy  withWr 
ht^band  because  he  is  not  ySd^S^ 

ari!^   ^^?  T°'^^  ^°^  ^'^^  that.    She 
KSfS*'*-    It  was  as  a  husband  that 

Doctor  X  left  the  matter  with  her. 

lUe  next  tune  he  saw  her  she  said:  "T 
have  been  thuiking  over  what  you  sujteested 
about  my  husband.    I   believe  yT^ 

Sf  ••  Shrifli^.'^^f^^tofa^'S 
me.      She  laughed.    "As  a  matter  of  fact 
I  don't  thmk  he's  half  bad  as  a  TrZ^ 
as  husbands  go."  "suauu 

That  is  a  very  simple  instance  of  one  of 
t^l^mmonest  causes  of  unhappiness  in 
^^hfe.    Let  us  go  a  cut  deeper  in  the 

"I  have  a  patient."  Doctor  X  says,  "a 
woman    who    married    an   unrejuvmkted 
3a 


iN  LOVE  AND  MARRIAGE 

father  image.    That  was  a  mente.  regression 
on  her  part,  due  to  the  failure  of  a  youthful 
love  aflfair  in  which  the  image  had  been 
rejuvenated  as  ai.  ideal  lover.     Unhappy  be- 
cause of  the  failure  of  this  love  affair;  she 
tad  repressed  the  memory  of  it,  and  the 
Ideal  image  had  been  carried  down  in  the 
repression-as  it  often  is.    The  father  image 
had  replaced  it-as  it  often  does.    Wh«i 
she  was  about  to  marry  her  present  husband 
her  mother  warned  her,  'He  is  just  like 
your  father,  and  he  has  always  been  difficult  " 
Her   father   had,    in    fact,    been   short- 
tempered,  cntical,  and  unjust.     Once,  when 
She  was  about  seven  years  old,  he  had 
accused  her  of  something  of  which  she  had 

lettmg  her  explam,  he  had  spanked  her  in 
the  presence  of  a  boy  friend.  1  ae  indignity 
was  ahnost  unendurable.  It  had  remained 
m  her  naemory  as  the  picture  symbol  of 
parental  injustice.  But  she  had  aU  a  young 
girls  mstmctive  love  for  her  father  She 
had  repressed  her  anger  and  resentment. 
It  nanamed  m  her  subconscious  mind  as  a 
rnass  of  undrained  emotion— as  an  "affect  " 
as  the  psychologists  say. 

One  evening,   at  the  dinner   table,   her 
husband  wrongly  accused  her  of  something 
that  had  been  done  by  a  servant,  and  he 
33 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 

5P0ke  angrily  to  her  in  the  presence  of  a 
dinn»  guest.    By  so  doing  he  accurately 
reproduced  the  scene  that  had  occurred  with 
her  father.    There  foUowed  a  volcanic  erup- 
toon  out  of  aU  proportion  to  the  cause  of  it. 
All  the  undrained  emotions  of  her  relations 
with  her  father  were  set  free.    And  they 
nanained  free,  thereafter,  in  her  relatioM 
with  her  husband.    Any  sort  of  happmess 
with   him   became   practically   impossible, 
berause,  loymg  him  as  she  had  loved  her 
fattier,  she  felt  all  the  resentment  and  anger 
and  dishke  against  him  that  she  had  stored 
up,  unexpended,  against  her  fat'ier. 

'Moreover,"  the  doctor  says,  "her  feelings 
agamst  her  father  had  accumulated  in  a 
sense  of  humiliation  that  showed  in  blushine 
in  her  girlhood,  ttiough  the  blushing  was  of  a 
teansitory  character.  As  a  consequence  of 
her  unhappy  relations  with  her  husband 
she  developed  chronic  blushing— a  so-called 
vasomotor  reaction  in  which  the  congestion 
and  painful  beating  of  tiie  blood  vessels  of 
fece  and  neck  led  her  physician  to  believe 
tliat  she  had  a  thyroid  disturbance.  It  was 
on  this  diagnosis  that  she  came  to  me. 

"I  found  that  she  had  no  ttiyioid  trijuble. 
She  was  physically  healttiy.    She  was  suffer- 
ing only  with  the  psychic  conflict  ttiat  had 
resulted  from  marrying  an  unrejuvenated 
34 


IN  LOVE  AND  MARRIAGE 

father  image.  She  was  cured  by  bringing 
that  conflict  into  her  conscious  mind  and 
resolving  it,  with  her  husband's  aid." 

Let  us  put  aside,  for  the  present,  the 
question  of  how  such  a  conflict  can  be  cured 
by  "bringing  it  into  the  conscious  mind." 
Let  us  leave  out  of  immediate  consideration 
the  whole  matter  of  disease  and  its  treat- 
ment by  such  methods.  Let  us  confine 
ourselves  to  the  question  of  how  this  sub- 
conscious love  image  and  the  emotions 
attached  to  it  affect  the  happiness  of  married 
life. 

The  case  that  I  have  just  described  is 
evidently  a  somewhat  abnormal  example 
of  what  is  a  fairly  common  situation.  We 
have  all,  I  suppose,  been  puzzled  by  the 
amount  of  irritation  that  often  develops  be- 
tween husband  and  wife  over  some  ap- 
parently trivial  matter.  We  call  it  "a 
tempest  in  a  teapot."  The  most  devoted 
love  does  not  seem  capable  of  saving  them 
from  moments  of  the  most  furious  anger  and 
resentment  The  cause  may  be  as  small  as 
a  teapot,  but  the  tempest  can  be  a  home- 
wrecldng  tornado.  The  one  whom  we  most 
love  we  seem  to  be  capable  of  most  hatine 
Why?  ^ 

The  child's  first  love  is  for  its  parents. 
But  its  parents  are  also  its  first  guides  and 
35 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 


aritics.    They  give  it  its  first  dMdpline     K 
^ed  by  suppressed  emotS  S  SS-" 

the  childhood^rfor  tSe^S^K,  t^ 

Wormed  into  the  adSrCit^S 
or  wife,  there  is  a  weaker  reoressinn T^f^ 

antagonistic  emotions.  Si^S  i^' ^ 

J-^v^bly  under  any  critSn.'S^  J 
Kindness,  or  mjustioe. 

Moreover,  in  the  happier  moods  of  married 
lite  the  inheritance  of  the  chiMJinJiT 

Dand  will  have  moments  in  which  he  «^ 

tiit\hrher.,.''-Th:^^-r- 

TO  act  as  if  her  husband  were  her  fnfTi^ 
pmicularly  if  she  has  invS^eS  h^tf"^ 
d^culties  with  financial  affairs  oSl? 
these  moments  will  conflict.  The  wSe^o 
IS  most  consistently  daughter-llke^'duti! 
•WV  t°  ^°^  *^t  her  husband  fc 
nothmg  but  a  great  child,"  b<«^S?  she 

manded  mothering.    And  the  husband  ^ 

be  em-aged  to  find  himself  treated  Sif^ 

36 


IN  LOVE  AND  MARRIAGE 
'2;j™*v.»m  be  difficult  b«»^  tte 

"Tsmg  out  of  the  subconscious  influences  of 
her  past  relations  with  her  father.  ^ 

DcvSV*.l^*'°".  ^^'^'^    be    impossible" 

£jf^  th^i^°^P''r'  "^  '*  were  not  thlt 
love  in  the  noimal  man  or  woman  k  » 

^S,«'r''?"  ^'^S  ^  douWeTal.    it 

^  love  ilmer^y  t'^e  SveTSiS 
*^^^  blast  away  aU  the  olS^l^JJ^J 
ftend  betweai  the  lover  and  the  tovS  It 
S^to  J^'    fr'^ental    rea^^."    { 

U  ^'Jy        ^^^"^  °'  protective  love, 
it  IS  a  wiUmg  giant  that  sublimates  ite 
^SE  "'.'^^  highest  forms  of  cXrS  de 
^opm«it.    But  in  the  absence  of  pSStfve 

mme.    it  is  not  a  goal  in  itself;  and  if  it 
37 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 

be  made  a  goal  personaUty  soon  crumbles. 
But,  if  protective  love  is  the  ideal  aimed  at, 
the  sex  instinct  automatically  takes  its 
place  as  naturaUy  as  a  kiss  or  a  caress. 
Without  that  ideal,  sex  love  is  as  disastrous 
as  free  dynamite.  Pood  craving  has  its 
value  m  the  goal  which  food-given  strength 
enables  you  to  attain.  Sex  craving  has  its 
value  m  the  goal  of  home  happiness  and 
race  happiness  which  sex-given  strength  en- 
ables you  to  attain  in  mate  and  chil'^ren  " 

It  is  there  that  Doctor  X's  theory  and 
practice  diverge  most  widely  from  the 
Freudian  emphasis  on  sex.  I  shall  have  to 
return  to  that  question  later  and  take  it 
up  at  length.  Meantime,  I  wish  to  give  a 
few  more  examples  of  the  subconscious  in- 
fluence of  a  parent  image  causii^  unhap- 
piness  in  married  life. 

J  is  a  contractor  whom  Doctor  X  once 
teeated  for  a  disease  that  need  not  come  into 
the  story.  His  father  had  been  a  tyrant  to 
both  mother  and  son.  He  had  opposed  the 
boy  s  education,  and  J  had  been  given  only 
one  year's  schoolii^.  His  antagonism  to- 
ward his  father  and  his  sympathy  for  his 
mother  had  overweighted  his  instinctive 
love  for  her.  He  ran  away  from  home  at 
seventeen,  and  within  a  year  he  was  earning 
enough  to  take  his  mother  away  from  his 
38 


IN  LOVE  AND  MARRIAGE 

fethja-'s    tyranny    and    support    her.    She 
hved    with   him   until    her   death,    which 
occurred  when  he  was  forty-two  years  old 
Tluee  years  later,  at  forty-five,  he  married  a 
widow  of  forty. 

The  probability  of  an  unrejuvenated 
inother  image  in  this  case  was  so  great  that 
the  doctor  hazarded  the  suggestion,  "Your 
wife  markedly  resembles  your  mother, 
doesn't  she?" 

"Why,  yes!"  he  said.  "How  did  you 
Imow?  I  have  a  photo  of  my  mother  in 
the  dining  room,  and  everyone  always  takes 
it  for  a  picture  of  my  wife." 

The  father's  oppression  had  given  him  a 

feehng  of  inferiority  from  which  he  had 

never  recovered,  and  that  feeling  had  greatly 

hampered  his  career.    The  unrejuvenated 

mother  unage  had  made  him  unhappy  with 

his  wife.    Strangest  of  aU,  he  was  repeating 

his  own  father's  tyranny  in  his  relations 

with  his  stepson— his  wife's  son  by  her 

previous  marriage.    He  was  so  unkind  to 

ttis  boy  of  seventeen  that  the  stepson  had 

threatened  to  run  away  from  home. 

_  "The  philosophers,"  Doctor  X  comments, 

mamtain  that  experience  is  the  best  teacher. 

I  find  that  the  subconscious  mind  learns 

nothing  by  experience.    It  redupKcates  the 

drama  of  its  childhood  over  and  over,  even 

39 


111; 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 

ro   jjoctor  X,   a   nervous  wreck,   alwavs 

numerable  m  her  tnanied  life,  and  affliS 
mth  a  n^vous  trembling  whenever  she  h^ 
abeU.  The  drama  of  her  tragic  marriage 
had  begun  at  breakfast  one  rZni^^ 

a  ^oonful  of  porridge  on  the  tablS 
She  had  scarcely  had  a  happy  moment  wi^ 

a  phobm  for  beUs.    Why?    She  felt  ttS 

i^W  ^  l-Z'J  ^.^PPy-  *^t  there  wL 
no«ung  m  Me  for  her,  that  aU  her  natural 
affection  had  died  in  her  and  had  bS 
replaced  by  a  cold  sense  of  fear 

The  doctor  found  that  she  had  been  an 
iSrS  ^«r*'<^°^te  child,  but  her  fathS 
had  been  a  stem  and  undemonstmtive  man. 
and  her  mother  had  been  too  busy  ort«^ 
cold  to  accept  her  caresses.    At  a  vS 
early  age  she  devoted  her«Jf   to  a  S 
which  she  used  to  nurse  and  care  for.    vS 
ever  her   own  mother  neglected  he!  Z 
found  relief  for  her  injured  feelings  in  Svi^ 
^  her  affection  on  this  infant    For  ™ 
reason-which   she   could    not   reJl  ™ 
sound  of  a  ragpicker's  beU  always  threw  the 
40 


IN  LOVE  AND  MARRIAGE 

^5  ^*?.P/f '^y^  of  fear,  and  it  was  her 
^dehght  to  comfort  the  infant  and 

"It  is  necessary  to  notice  here,"  Doctor 
X  says,  "that  such  a  child's  attachmentfo^ 
a  baby  ,s  not  a  manifestation  of  the  maternal 
S"'*^-  w '  ""'"  ^^  identifies  heS^ 
^,^  ^  "^^*  ^d  P^^y^  ^  dual  mother 
^d  role.  That  is  why  my  patient,  by 
tend^ly  carmg  for  the  baby,  recompensed 
herself  for  her  mother's  neglect.  It  is  ^ 
reason  also  why  the  baby's  fear  of  a  beU 

f^TSuZ"''^'^"^  '*^^  ^  ^-  «-> 
The  baby  died.  Disconsolate,  she  turned 
to  a  partot,  and  the  panot  died.  She  d^ 
veloped  a  passion  for  paper  doUs,  but  she 
m^e  a  htter  of  paper,  cutting  them  (mt 
and  her  mother  threw  them  in  tZ  Se 
declmng  that  she  couldn  t  have  the  ho^ 

S^H^'^*^^;?*'^-    Allheratt^S 
at  affection  or  self-assertion  were  met  yri^ 

mtiasm.    She  heani  her  neighbors  Sl^S 

^iLTr?  ^ 'T'^'-    H-rteachS 
seemed  to  dishke  her.    And  so  forth. 

PT«i  •     *^\*"°e'  of  course,"  the  doctor 
^Uuns,  "she  was  imputing  to  the  outS 
world  actions  to  account  for  unieasonaWe 
and  mstinctive  feelings  in  hetsel?^ 
She  was  very  shy  and  self-conscious.  One 

•  41 


IM 

li  ill 


II! 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 

day,  while  she  was  handing  an  etaser  to  a 
boy  in  the  classroom,  a  teacher  misunder- 
stood what  she  was  doing  and  shamed  her 
before  the  whole  class  by  accusing  her  of 
holding  hands.  Moreover,  she  was  reported 
to  her  mother.  From  that  time  on  she 
felt  that  she  "would  rather  die"  than  be 
seen  talking  to  a  boy.  She  became  reserved, 
lonesome,  hypersensitive  to  criticism— deeply 
affectionate,  but  morbidly  unable  either  to 
show  affection  or  win  it. 

In  this  state  she  fell  in  love  with  the 
young  man  whom  she  finally  married.  The 
period  of  her  engagement  was  happy  beyond 
words.  She  felt  that  at  last  she  had  found 
the  absolutely  uncritical  protection  of  a 
great  love.  On  her  honeymoon  her  happi- 
ness seemed  greater  than  ever.  And  then 
she  spilled  porridge  on  the  tablecloth,  and 
her  htisband  reproved  her  irritably. 

Presto!  The  whole  structure  of  conscious 
happiness  came  tumbling  down  in  ruins, 
wrecked  by  an  explosion  of  the  subconscious 
emotions  in  the  cellar  of  her  mind.  She 
began  to  re-enact  with  her  husband  the 
early  drama  of  her  relations  with  her  parents. 
Every  bell  that  she  heard  became  the  rag- 
picker's bell,  warning  her  never  to  love,  be- 
cause her  love  was  always  to  be  rejected, 
disastrous,  tragical.    All  the  morbid  fears 


IN  LOVE  AND  MARRIAGE 

axid  repressions  of  her  childhood  flooded  her 
mind,  and  nothing  that  her  husband  could 
do  was  of  any  avail  to  reassure  her. 

This  is  an  abnormal  and  exaggerated  case, 
but  It  will  serve  to  show  the  strength  of 
subconscious  influences  on  married  hap- 
piness. Let  me  give,  finaUy,  an  example 
of  complete  and  incu.able  unhappiness  in 
marriage  as  the  result  of  a  subconscious, 
infantile  "fixation"  of  affection. 

Mrs.  K  is  an  Irishwoman  of  forty  who 
came  to  Doctor  X  to  be  treated  for  a  chronic 
headache.  She  had  been  bom  in  Ireland, 
one  of  twelve  children,  and  at  the  age  of 
ten  her  overburdened  mother  had  given  her 
sole  charge  of  her  baby  brother.  For  ten 
years  she  had  raised  this  boy  as  if  he  were 
her  own  child.  The  other  sisters  had  gone 
to  school,  but  she  had  insisted  on  staying 
home  to  help  with  the  housework  and  care 
for  the  baby.  She  cried  if  she  were  separated 
from  him.  Although  she  was  the  hand- 
somest girl  of  the  family,  healthy  and 
amiable,  at  twenty  yeai's  of  age  she  had  no 
beaus  and  did  not  encourage  any.  She  was 
wholly  devoted  to  her  small  brother. 

Then  her  parents  forced  her  to  leave  home 
and  come  to  America.  She  was  desperately 
unhappy  and  homesick  here.  She  developed 
various   diseases,    and   finally,    after   eight 

43 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 

years,  found  herself  with  "a  gastto-intestinal 
ulcer,  so  weak  and  emaciated  that  she 
returned  to  Ireland  to  die. 

ti  her  home  and  in  the  company  of  her 
brother-pnow  eighteen  years  old— she  mi- 
raculously regained  her  health.  In  four 
months  she  was  completely  cured.  He 
wished  to  come  to  America,  so  they  re- 
turned together.  He  married,  and  so  did 
sfte.    But  she  was  unhappy  in  her  married 

H  T  u^^^  ^"^  ^^  headaches. 
Hot  health  became  so  bad  that  she  went 
West  to  visit  her  brother;  her  headaches 
stopped,  and  she  became  as  "fat  as  a  oie  " 
she  said.  *^^' 

Her  brother  died.    As  the  result  of  a  fall 
from  a  street  car,  her  headaches  became 
mcessant^    Nothing  relieved  them,  and  when 
Doctor  X  first  saw  her  her  head  had  been 
aching  contmously  for  nearly  ten  years 
_      An  illness  of  this  type,"  he  says,  "follow- 
mg  an  injury,  is  commonly  blamed  on  the 
ac^doit.    In  reality,  the  injury  is  only  the 
last  blow  t^t  breaks  down  the  weakened 
machine.    No  physician  had  been  able  to 
tod  any  physical  cause  for  Mrs.  K's  head- 
adie.    There  was  none.    She  was  wholly 
nnsarable  m  her  married  life  because  her 
brother  had  become  the  fixed  symbol  of  aU 
happiness  values  for  her.    The  fixation  was 

44 


IN  LOVE  AND  MARRIAGE 

quite  unconscious.    She  only  knew  that  she 
had  been  happy  with  him  and  that  she  was 
absolutely  unhappy  without  him.    She  was 
V^}?  unaware  of  the  secret  of  her  ill  health. 
I  find  that  the  conversion  of  a  mental 
pain  mto  a  bodily  pain  is  a  common  device 
fOT  freemg  the  mind  of  unbearable  distress. 
The  body  is  readily  sacrificed  to  save  the 
mmd.    If  the  conversion  does  not  occur 
to  accomplish  this  indirect  drainage,  the 
mmd  may  break  down.    I  was  convinced 
that  if  we  removed  Mrs.  K's  headache 
msamty  would  certainly  follow.  In  any  case' 
happmess  in  her  married  life  was  quite  im- 
possible for  her.    She  should  never  have 
married." 

These,  then,  are  a  few  of  the  cases  on  which 
Doctor  X  founds  his  modified  Freudian 
theory  of  the  existence  of  the  subconscious 
love  image  and  its  influence  in  love  and 
niarnage.  I  shaU  have  to  return  to  the 
subject  again  when  we  come  to  the  question 
of  the  unconscious  origins  of  ill  health.  Let 
me  conclude,  for  the  time  being,  with  a  few 
more  examples  of  how  the  presence  of  this 
Ideal  love  image  in  the  unconscious  mind 
«plams  some  of  the  puzzling  phenomena 
of  courtship  and  married  life. 

Why,  when  we  "marry  in  haste,"  do  we 
usually  "repent  at  leisure"?    Because  love 

45 


f    i 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 

atfc-t  sight  is  an  emotional  «plosion  that 
l^  httle  or  no  relation  to  the  ob^ct 
causing  It.  and  repentance  follows  when  ^ 
SSgr"  develops  in  the  inti^'S? 

B«^^  "!'***  "*'^8^««<  often  unhappy? 

St^^iir^'^  ^^°.^  **«^°*«^  ^ 

aaugftter,   and  an    unrejuvenated    mot>i«. 
"nage  o:  father  image  thwarSfgn^^J 
a  happy  married  relation. 
Why  do  the  daughters  of  the  rich  so  of  t«, 

English    aristocracy    many    chorus    girk? 

Mt  to  the  sole  care  of  servants  at  the  time 
when  the  love  image  is  being  fonned  in  ™e 
subconscious  mind.  As  a  consequence  a 
Jauffeur  or  a  chorus  girl,  reprSiTSme 
cWtenstic  of  this  debaSd  inS^f.Tt^ 
the^spark  to  the  whole  ti^  of^Lt?,S 

Why  is  a  girl  who  was  a  coquette  before 
^arn^e  so  rarely  contented^hJ^S 

uS  of  W-""  ^""/^y^^^  was  due  to  a 
^ac  of  fixation  m  her  ideal  ima?e  an,l  thU 

ms^bility  commonly  persists^S'S^^ 

consaous  loyalty  has  been  deeply  engaged 

The  marriage   of  mature  judgment    or 

the  mamage  of  convenience,  ofteSbe 

46 


IN  LOVE  AND  MARRIAGE 
aiuse  the  ideal  image  has  not  been  consulted 
That  IS  true,  also,  of  aU  arranged  maniaees' 
aU  lovdess  nu«iages.  ItiT^elK^ 
thecontmental  marriage,  and  it  is  one  of  the 
reasons,  perhaps,  why  infidelity  so  often 
^es  there-the  ideal  image  seeks  ^ 
counterpart  outside  of  wedlock  ^^ 
The  pofect  marriage  would  seem  to  be 

JL°^h  *^*  'f  ?^  ^  ^*«  adoles.^5 
wh«m  the  parait  miage  has  been  rejuvenated 
m  ^olescent  fantasies  and  the  subcoSoS 
instmct  of  race  perpetuation  is  aUowed  its 
natural  fulfilhnent.  That  instinct,  blockS 
by  the  common  measures  of  birth  control 
dams  up  m  undrained  subconscious  presst^ 
that  produce  what  are  called  "amde^ 
neuroses"  and  other  morbid  causes  of  S 
^ET^-  ■u''  ^"^  *^^  ^^  ^«*ss  of  the 

caUed  the  subhmation"  of  the  race  in- 
^ct-as  for  example,  among  men  who  sub- 
lunate  m  then-  work,  creatively,  and  am^ 
women  who  sublimate  their  ^t^S 
pulse  m  efforts  of  charity  and  social  reform 


CHAPTER  III 


W   BBALTH 

A  RABBIT  hears  the  bark  Of  a  dog.    At 

^hi^'^^  ^  '^"'^  ^  discoveiS.  the 
rabbits   heart   speeds   up   and    its   bl<Md 

order  to  gam  more  oxygen.  Sugar,  which 
«  a  muscle  food,  is  thrown  into  the  bloS^ 
^estron  is  stopped,  and  blood  kshS 
mto  the  running  muscles.  All  this  is  aJtS 
matic^dmdependent  of  intelligence.  t£ 
«  to  say,  It  ,s  instmctive.  The  labWt 
bounds  away  toward  the  safety  of  hiTS 
and  readies  it  with  evident  elation.  He  S 
happy  m  the  satisfaction  of  an  iSinct 

nr^^tf  ^^""^^  °°  ^^  battlefield  have 
proved  that  exactly  the  same  phiS 
dianges  take  place  in  the  body  oia^ 
He  is  subject  to  the  instinct  of  ffight  andTe 
mstmctive  emotion  of  fear  jS^^^e 
rabbit  is^  But.  unlike  the  raobit.  the  nm 
has  a  oonsaous  mtelligence  which  conflicts 

does  not  have  any  feeling  of  self-reprxMch 

48 


IN  HEALTH 

when  it  yields  to  its  instinct  of  flight.  The 
man  has.  Moreover,  the  man,  having  been 
taught  to  believe  that  fear  is  shameful, 
can  blot  the  feeling  of  fear  out  of  his  con- 
scious mind. 

Is  that  the  end  of  it?    Apparently  not. 
rhe  new  science  of  the  subconscious  mind 
has  discovered  that  the  fear  is  suppressed 
from    consciousness    into    the    unconscious 
— ^mth  amazing  results. 
Durmg  the  war  with  Germany  we  were 
•.r^^^,"^  *^^  newspapers  about  soldiers 
with     shell-shock"  who  had  gone  blind  or 
deaf  unaccountably  on  the  battlefield,  and 
who  had  as  mysteriously  recovered  their 
sight  or  hearing  when  a  submarine  sank 
thor  hospital  ship  and  plunged  them  in 
cold  water.    And  we  read  about  the  phy- 
acians   who   were   curing   such   cases   by 
hypnotism,  or  merely  by  suggestion,  or  by 
a  rather  heroical  electric  treatment.    Doctor 
A  had  several  of  these  "shell-shock"  cases 
—cases  of  heart  disease   or  of  digestive 
trouble  that  had  no  discoverable  physical 
cause.    What  are  these  cases? 

"When  a  man,"  he  says,  "goes  blind  or 
deaf  from  shell-shock  there  is  nothing 
wrong  with  his  eyes  or  his  ears.  They  are 
receivmg  and  registering  light  waves  or 
sound  waves  and  transmitting  the  messages 

49 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 

The  plunge  into  cold  water  f  J™  *t.  •  ^  ' 
ship  restores  the  Si?^^;!.  1  >\'""'^« 
the  sinking  of  the  S„  *^"«  •^"* 
conscious  ^mSd  4f  a  ^'^*'  *^^  ""''- 
which  blindnei  oTdea?„^     ^^^  ^"»" 

the  conscious  i  of  STSS  ^"* 
explained  them  to  himS  uT  ^  "^ 
digestive  disorder  ^e^T^Jt^  "^?  ."^ 

50  ^~ 


IN  HEALTH 

^^^ned,  unconaciou.  emotion^an  un- 
"~gn«ed  wboonadous  wiah-the  wish  to 
«Mpe     And  when  some  final  shock  weak- 

f«r  ^  wl^y  symptom.  A  man.  in 
fact,  goes  bUnd  or  deaf  from  shell-shodc 

£f^Kil,^P'^7"  "^^  instinctive  fear 
nas  wished  him  so. 

if  I?*  ^  °'.«heM;shock  is  simple  enough 
rf  the  patient  ,s  safe  from  the  dang«^o£ 
bemg  returned  to  the  trenches.  &verS 
thousand  cases  we«  cur«J  by  the  signing 

phcated  by  the  fact  that  sheU-shock  is^t 
ad.^  of  cowards,  but  of  brave  men.  ll 
afflcts  only  the  man  who  refuses  to  aUow 
Wlf  to  be  conscious  of  a  feeling  of  fear. 
He  could  be  saved  from  the  disorder 
accordmg  to  Doctor  X.  if  amy  doctS 
would  go  through  the  training  cLpTsS 
make  some  such  speech  as  this: 

battlefield  you  will  feel  fear.  Your  body 
wdl  register  fear  uncontrollably.  This  is 
mstinctive^  It  cannot  be  pr^ventS^'  It 
IS  fear,  not  cowardice.  Do  not  attempt  to 
oppress  ,t  Say  to  yourself:  'My  body 
K  scared,  but  I  am  not.  It  is  "getting 
ready  to  run  but  it  is  not  going  to  ru5 
back;  It  is  gomg  to  run  forward.  It  is  not 
SI 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 


going  to  retreat,  but  to  charw  •    k 
shock  ST  1,       "''^  <=»«  of  pore  shdl- 

Why? 

birH  Iho*  t,  .   ®^^  "»  animals.     The 


IN  HEALTH 

comes;  it  has  to  go.    A  bird  whose  instinct 
It  IS  to  build  its  nest  in  a  certain  way  cannot 
change  the  method;  and  it  cannot  leave-the 
nest  uncompleted.    The  action  cannot  be 
directed  or  controlled  by  the  animal;  the 
mstmct  IS  unconscious  and  it  is  compulsive 
Uvihzed  man  represses  his  instincts.    He 
tnes    to    control    and    direct    them.    And 
commonly  he  succeeds,  but  more  commonly 
he  merely  represses  their  direct  expression 
and  they  escape  into  action  in  some  dis- 
gtiised  form." 

,  Now  is  this  really  true  of  the  other 
mstmcts  of  man— instincts  less  powerful  and 
compelling  than  the  instinct  of  flight  and 
its^  emotion  of  fear?    Let  us  see. 

''I  have  recently  had  a  patient,"  says 
Uoctor  X,  'who  was  referred  to  me  by  a 
nose  and  throat  specialist  to  be  diagnosed. 
He  was  suffering  with  what  seemed  to  be 
a  constant  and  uninterrupted  hay  fever 
His  tonsils  had  been  removed  and  the  septum 
of  his  nose  had  been  straightened,  but 
without  effect.  My  examination  showed 
that  he  was  suffering  with  a  chronic  con- 
gestion of  the  blood  vessels  on  the  inside  of 
'"^  nose— a  sort  of  persistent  'blushbg.' 

The  blush  of  shame  or  anger  was  not 
ongmally  confined  to  the  face.    An  angry 
naked  baby  shows  its  resentment  by  turning 
S3 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 


flushing  occW^ona  It,  P'PY^i-that    this 
body  fl^^  t&  i^^  '^"^  skin  of  the 

My  patient's  snuffing  sn«-„-«„r 
suggested   the  min^  SSon^^f  "^ 
repressed  anger  that  I  sWff I^  °^  * 

tion  f„,n>  his^no^::  LtS.?-^^  ^^"°^- 

thSd  JJe^^^'^'^'  ^tb  sevenU 

j^t.%rcei:°Ser^-St.^^^^^ 


IN  HEALTH 

corporation  were  getting  their  employees 
tempted  from  mUitary  service  on  th?p^ 

Z^J^  ^^  ^^^  -  -  ^^ 
^  further  probing,  this  proved  to  be  a 
v«y  sore  pomt  with  him.    He  knew  tha? 

Sl£?T'^'^^*  '*°*^  ^  S^*  'leed  of  his 
^ledtechmcians.  Many  of  the  men  wished 
to  volunteer  for  special  service.  The  wives 
2«^!     n  .^^  ^n^Plaining  that  the  neighbors 

5^  ^J"^"**  **^*  *^"  ^«=^ti^«  heads 
dutvh^ff^'""^:'"^-  Yet  he  felt  in 
duty  bound  to  convince  the  men  and  their 
J^ves  that  the  executive  order  was^^^S 
just.  He  was,  consequently,  angrv  at  hfe 
supenors,  angr,  at  himse/hunSitS  t 
his  position,  and  full  of  exasperated  reseirt- 
m«it  at  the  whole  busin^AU  of  Se 
was  loyaUy  repressing.  It  was  appar^J 
only  m  his  uritated  nose.  fi^rent 

"I  explained  to  him  what  I  thought  was 

^uT^''  Doctor  X  continuS  "h1 
replied  simply  that  the  theory  opened  a  new 
field  of  thought  to  him:  and  he  ^dshed  to 
«»^er  it     With  that,'he  left  mr 

When  he  returned  he  had  solved  his 

r  -!r*!l.^\«P^''™"«^*-  AnexlLiati.^ 
showed  that  his  nose  was  already  cleaS 


w 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 
assertion   Tth^whou'^"'"  ^f'^^'^  ^If- 

pr^ce  of  a  dog  hal  tt  "?"""  ^^  "^« 
m  ignoring  th^  t  th^tt'^fT" ^ 
unaware  of  the  aninml  buth.l?,^  ^^"^ 
by  the  rising  o{Th^i^l^^'^°y^ 

time-and  tie  W  ora^^d^'^'^in- " 
either  to  smooth  down  her  W^"!  ^'^"^ 

vated  by  the  alkali  7,Z  fu-^  ^^gra- 
home  in  the  We^an^T  °^  *"f  ''"y^"^ 
d^-aming  of  bu^^'a      "^^  ^.^^  ^y 

-PingtotheS^%^tpSfSa' 
so 


IN  HEALTH 

^J^r^^  ^  subservience  of  his 
comneraalwork.  It  was  part  of  his  cure  to 
wS^\^   to   look   forward   tTuS 

That  is  to  say,  the  patient  was  immediately 
relieved  by  reordering  his  life  so  as  toSow 

SrS'';^  "f  "^  °'  self-asserticT  to 
^^J^u  ^'^  ^.  P«™anent  cure  was 
provided  for  by  bnnging  his  suppressed  sub 
«msaous  wish  into  his  consdo^S  ^d 
aUowmg  It  to  drain  off  there 

self?<Lf*^  ego  instinct-the  instinct  of 

S^^^^*^":?^^^'  ^^  "°«t  powerful  of 
aU  human  mstmcts  is  the  sex  instinct. 

1  iiave  a  patient  who  is  suffering  with  « 
humd^ted  skin,'  "  says  Docto?^^  ^"She 
IS   unhappy   with   her  husband   who    ^e 
complams,  offends  against  her  sel^Sp^ 
A^a  matter  of  fact  she  is  unhappy  SS 
iZ  u^u  ^°^\"°age  has  been  foind^^ 
her  brother  whom  she  idolized  in  gi^uTocS^ 
and  no  married  relation  is  ideal  to  S' 
^revolt  of  the  suppressed  instinct  of^ 
SLiT"  '°  ^^°^Shly  explored  by  S 
^(^psychologists  that  I  scarcely  need 
Su  T         ^°  T^  experience  it  is  respon- 

for  whi^  surgical  operations  are  now  so 
fashionable.    Such  operations  rarely  LS 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 

They  amputate  the  symptom,  so  to  speak, 
but  they  do  not  reach  the  cause  ofX 
g^tom.  They  are  commonly  as  inef- 
fective as  the  operation  on  the  septum  of 
my  fnend  s  angry  nose. 

"It   seems   to   me,    however,    that    the 
PYeudians  err  m  seeking  the  origin  of  so 
many  bodily  and  mental  ills  in  the  sonial 
uistmct.    True,   that  instinct  is  most  re- 
pressed by  our  civilization  and  most  potent 
m  Its  resentm^t  against  repression,   but 
It  is  also  most  frequently  and  successfully 
subhmated,  converted  into  harmless  enenjy 
and  soaahzed  along  channels  that  are  for 
the  general  good  of  the  herd.    The  sub- 
conscious  mind    itself -as    the  Freudian 
studies    of   dreams   show  -  disguises    the 
sexual  impulse  m  symbols  whose  meaning 
IS  not  easily  recognized.    I  find  that  bmeath 
these  symbols  is  another  layer  of  meaning 
in  which  the  sexual  content  is  displac^by 
other  mstmctive  ti^nds;  and   in  my  ex- 
penence  it  is  often  a  great  mistake  to  expose 
to  the  patient  the  sexuality  of  dreams  k^ 
unpulses  which  his  subconscious  mind  has 
di^uised  from  him.    I  find  that  the  ex- 
PMure  has  httle  value  as  a  curative.    It  is 
sbUnecessary  to  re-establish  the  patient's 
defective  personality  or  to  reoider  his  life 
so  as  to  remove  the  conflict.    And  fre- 
S8 


IN  HEALTH 

quently,  as  I  say,  the  exposure  is  valueless 
because  the  psychic  conflict  is  not  reaUy 

He  gives,  as  an  example,  the  case  of  one 
of  his  patients,   an   ascetic  and   religious 
young  man,  who  came  to  be  treated  for 
msomnia    and    nervous    breakdown.      His 
dreams  showed  strong  sex  repression,  but 
^ey  so  disguised  it  that  he  could  describe 
them  without  the  slightest  suspicion  of  their 
real  meaning.    They  were  nearly  all  dreams 
of  his  childhood— which  indicated  that  he 
had  not  broken  his  home  ties  early  enough 
mMe.    This  proved  to  be  true.    He  ^ 
been  engaged  to  marry,  but  he  had  kept 
postponing  his  wedding,  reluctant  to  begin 
Me  for  himself,  until  a  less  dilatory  lover 
ran  off  with  his  fiancee.    As  a  result  of  that 
disaster,  he  had  fallen  ill.    The  iUness  in- 
creased his  dependence.    It  also  convinced 
him  that  he  would  never  be  well  enough 
to  take  on  the  responsibilities  of  marriage 
He  had  since  left  home,  but  he  had  aban- 
doned all  thoughts  of  love,  and  he  was  living 
the  bachelor  life  of  a  hermit,  completely 
ascetic  and  unsociable. 

He  had  not  only  developed  insomnia.  He 

^  also  developed  an  aversion  to  beds. 

He  sat  up  half  the  night  reading,  and  often 

slept  m  his  chair.     He  always  traveled  in 

59 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 


•day  coach  on  the  railroads  and  ♦!.-  «•  w. 
of  a  deeping  car  SO^m^'  ^  •  ?  *«** 
and  dr^^  *="  "led  him  with  imtatioa 

Doctor  X  says:    "I  ^  ^t.^^  . 

of  the  same  colTl^L^  Pocketbook 
sdous'compulsit^'    suspected  an  uncon- 

to,ljm^the^aS;:i^:^,,^«-ni«* 

wwcf  hr?!Sigrrto"t^  ^  *  <^ 

dreamed  I  w^f  ho^e."t  S^^  2' 
farm  where  I  was  hn«.  j~*°'  on  the 
-  the  chicki  wS'ei'  L^^'°°^ 
with  me  a  small  ^1,,-u    ?^'  ^°  *°®^  ^as 

baby  RogS.Tfo^X^  f^l^ 
It  and  it  broke     Ti,=-    ^*'        ^  dropped 


IN  HEALTH 

com«  and  said  he  had  found  lots  of  esn. 
I  looked  m  the  nest  and  it  was  full  of  ^ 

2S  ^d  .w^  *^*  '^•^  ""^'*  ^  the 
^  ana  that  we  must  get  away  so  that  the 

«,J1^^  .J*^"  *°  discover  what  this  dream 
m«mt,"  Doctor  X  continues,  "I  bega^ 
ask  him  to  'associate, '  as  we  say,  the^bjecS 
m  hM  dream  with  the  ideas  which  S 
suffiested-that  is  to  say,  to  teU  iSS 
thoughts  came  to  him  when  I  said  'egg'^ 
c^ckenhouse'or'bluemarks,'andso&!" 
hJr\fi°?*'l.'^^  that  as  a  child  he 

mother  to  the  chicken  house  to  sie  her  fS 
the  chickens  and  gather  the  eggs.  Ifc 
r^ed  also  that  she  marked  wi^a  bS 

penal  the  eggs  that  were  to  be  left  to  hatch 
and  gathered  oijy  the  umnarked  on«^ 
^^  this  he  had  concluded  it  was   the 

^i!Jf  ^^^  ^^  ^  *^*  °^«  it  fertile 
^d  produced  a  chicken.  Blue,  therS 
was  a  sign  of  fertility.  "icreiore, 

hJ*^^^^^!**  *^*  *he  egg  which  he 
had  dropped  m  his  dream  represented  his 
unhappy  love  affair,  which  had  been  frus- 

^  ^  ^  ^^y  R°g«-  represented 
his  own  child  that  had  never  beenlW 

6i 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 

♦»,.?  "*"***  *°°  fanta«tic  to  suppose  that 
^  young  mto  was  wearing  blSTbecau^ 
of  an  unconsaous  and  frustrated  wish  to 

the  ^TObol  in  so  many  forms  that  iTwS 
^njj^ble.     "Moreover."    s^^  SoS 

JlJ^^"*  ^  '""'^  ^^  that  Ws  f«^ 
msomnia  was  not  fear  of  a  sleepless  Sht 
but  fear  of  a  loveless  life,  his  inSSiS  bS 
to  unprove.    His  phobia  for  sS/^ 
««d  beds  disappeared.    Sleep  SSfy^ 

from  the  pam  of  his  real  disappointmmt 
h«  failure  to  realize  a  love^^^"**' 
tinJT^  °'  foUowing  the  Freudian  prac- 

^  i  "^"^'^^  ^^'  P*ti««t'«  dreaT^ 
h^  I  und^k  to  sublimate  his  repress^ 
mstmcts  I  pretended  to  accept  hS^bS 
J^th^  dl  health  forbade^  to  mS^ 
Sri  JT*^  °V*  *^t  ^^  """Id  sociaSS 
^.^u^^^  ^y  devoting^S  to 

Sf™  ^"^^  ^^  '''^^  °f  charity  S 
rrform  and  achieve  a  measure  of  hap^^ 

^n^  others  happy.  As  a  reS  rf 
that  ady.ce  he  joined  in  some  social  and 
chantable  church  and  settlement  work  He 
improved  so  much  in  health  that  he  soon 

f^hSr^^r    The  last  time  I  hSS 

from  bm  he  was  deep  in  a  'platonic  friend- 

Stop   for  a  young  woman  at  the  settlement 

69 


IN  HEALTH 

house.  I  wnture  to  prophesy  that  the  fint 
tune  he  sees  her  in  blue  he  wfll  discoyer 
tnat  he  18  in  love  with  her." 

I  nnght  go  on  reporting  these  cases 
endlessly  Doctor  X  has  hundreds  of  them 
-cases  of  chronic  ill  health  that  came  to 
him  for  diagnosis  because  the  physicians 
who  had  been  treating  them  h.-.d  failed  to 
cure  than— cases  of  obscure  nervous  dis- 
orders that  had  no  recognizable  physical 
ongm— cases  of  functional  disturbance  that 

trouble  with  the  mtemal  glands.  And  again 
and  again  he  found  that  the  iUness  wasdue 
to  the  blocking  of  an  instinct  or  the  re- 
pression of  an  instinctive  emotion.  And 
agam  and  again  he  cured  by  first  releasing 
the  emotion  into  the  conscious  mind  and 
then  reordering  the  life  of  the  patient  so  as 
to  reheve  the  blocked  instinct. 

Instinctive  fear  is  a  common  cause  of 
fltoMs  m  his  practice,  because  it  affects  the 
heart  and  the  thyroid  gland.  But  this  fear 
w  not  always  the  instinctive  fear  of  physical 
danger,  as  in  the  case  of  the  soldier  It 
may  be  the  fear  of  moral  danger;  "for  man  " 
as  he  pomts  out,  "reacts  to  a  menace  against 
his  moral  welfare  exactly  as  the  animal 
reacts  to  a  menace  against  its  bodily  safety 
and  the  daily  battering  of  the  instinct  of 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 
J»|^  the  dupe  of  worry,  wuiety.  or 
«o«l  d«tre.»-«Bamrt  the  h^  imdriinS 

of  the  pati«t.  wm  produce  definite^KSS 

cl^  «Ki  «  great  degree  of  iUhSS?^ 

He  finds  perhaps  the  most  fniitful  of  all 

^^^J,  ^«»  among  hi,  pTente  to 

■oger,  resentment,  jealousy,  or  a  oermani^f 
catmction  of  failure  and ISeriony^Se 

^ilTd^dSSS^'-^-S^^hS? 
2^a  radi^TSaai^^^S' 
^eaaUy  mterested  in  the  bettermeat  of 
wortong  conditions,  most  violent  hW^o^ 

fS^.?  ^^  '^-  ^nsideraS^  S 
feehngs  of  others,  but  easily  irritaterf  \»;^ 
^^uaUy  under^^,^  t^S«t1;r^ 
sorts  of  physical  ills.  He  has  o  ^: 
Potion  under  the  muniSil'^ov^nSr 
He  complams,  privately,  vri^  ««rt^Sr" 

J^cbef.  and  shows  strong  emotionTS 

miijf  fond  of  this  man,  and  blames  th» 

^j;^^  the  imperfections  of'^ldj^^ 

gwemment.    His  mam  difficulty  is  his  lad! 

64 


IN  HEALTH 

^z^r^^^  ^\'"'^'  r»^"«tiy.  of 

W««5*  *  r* .  "*  ^  always  to  force 
S^f  ■if'P  Ws  routine  4d«  by^ 
^ort  of  wiU;  he  tires  easUy;  and  he  has  T 
whap  lumself  up  again  and  ^gain.    li^  ho 

it^^v*°.  ^'  ^^^^"^  ccSution.  fJ  : 
let  us  look  at  his  youth." 

He  was  bom  in  a  smaU  country  to;^,     a 
poor  parents.    He  was  set  to  work        Z 
early  a^,  and  at  twelve  he  was  si  ,  ne  ;;' 

Sf^-^V'"^''*-  The  fanr  was  four 
mues  from  his  home,  and  he  had  to  walk 
that  distance   night  and  morning. 

to^'  toTi  ^^J*^^  ^'  ^*«J  «  holiday, 
to  go  to  a  baseball  game.    His  father    J 

vjy  st^  and  religiorman.  o?dS5"him' 
Tj°  ^^  '^o'J^-    He  started  out,  buta 

2:Sd°ir2°^  "^  °"  ,*^«  wa:>aS;*h; 

^c^Jted  It  as  an  excuse  for  turning  back 
S'"dlTm'"ff^-^-worir.' 

P^yed  truant  toSTtotftiT^ddS' 
^  he  returned  home  for  dinner  WsS' 
J^.f^?^,!'«nt  after  him  with  aliS" 

^c? hS*  *«'  ^  ^^  ^«  h«  resisted  aTd 
struck  back.     He  was  severelv  beaten   lee 
tured  mto  a  state  of  horror  ^t  Tn^ifZ 
^^stnick  his  father,  and  sSt  to  the 
»nn  to  apologize  for  his  truancy 
6s 


m 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 

The  whole  incident  made  a  profound  im- 

on  the    ceUo  at  home,  and  lifted  the  bov 

when  he  lay  in  bed  listening  ^^ 

'That  little  drama  of  the  Fourth  of 
July,     says  Doctor  X,  "proved  toTthe 
key  to  my  patient's  whole  characS     I 
found  that,  in  his  dreams.  auESTwas 
a^waj^    symbolized    by    the   razSbLkS 
pbw-horse  which  he  used  to  f oU^SS 
forth  through  the  rows  of  com.    Ifo^ 
that  in  his  daily  life,  whenever  the  gen™ 
impulses  of  aflFection  were  brought  iSST 
i^^^T  ^*  ?°^  mysteriously  eSuffid 
at  the  least  sign  of  injustice/The  «W 

iSti^'wir  *^!  ^  of  his  chflS 
repeated  with  various  changes  in  the  cast 

but  no  change  in  the  chaiJteR.    SeS 

government  had  taken  over  the  fatheX 

^e^d  the  bui^u  chief  was  SibsISutSg 

t3TOnny  had  become  a  revolt  against  social 

P^ofS  l*'^".  ?  -^^orS 
I'ear  of  the  father's  punishment  had  become 

a  morbid  fear  of  losing  his  job.    ni^ 
storm  m  his  boyhood  had  become  the  «cuse 

66 


IN  HEALTH 

«fffl  health.  His  m  health,  however,  was 
«actty  the  sort  that  would  foUow  if  one 
subjected  one's  body  to  the  shatt^g  b! 
fluence  of  continual  anger    T  ^f  ^ 

^SS'h^K  T  ?Pl^*tio°  was  that 
overwork  had  broken  down  a  bodv  alwav«: 
un^eloped  because  of  the  eflF^S^of  S 

»S^  we  have  health  ruined  by  an  early 
b^dpng  of  mstinctive  trends  aid  by^e 
amflict  of  emotions  resulting  from  the  con 

ibe  patient  has  been  helped  by  makinir  i,;,r. 
aware  of  the  conflict,  bySng^L^ 
Sn^  nund.  But  it  is^Bt  to  cu^' 
hmi  because  ,t  fe  impossible  to  change  hS 

^JtXT.'^'fy^**  ^'  reduplication  If  tJe 
symbols    of  the  childhood  drama 

thirfc?*!^  °"^°^  ^^  «*^ge  things  about 

^n  ^^J'^y  "^  Pictures-in  "symbols" 
-^  Its  mstmctive  emotion,  can  iSTtart^ 
up  by  the  reappearance  of  one  of  these 
symbols  away  from  its  context. 

x'^c^r-  "^  r°^'"  ^y«  Doctor 
«,H  ^^^  me  suffering  from  insomnia 
and  depression.  No  reason  for  her  ™ 
drtion  was  apparent  until  she  admitt^  a 
Pecuhar  circumstance:  she  could  not  sleeo 
67  ** 


'fe' 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 

i~!^^  L    the  chair  always  fiUed  her  with 
dread.    She   had   refused   to    'humor   this 
nonsense    m  herself  by  getting  rid  of  the 
chau-  and  had  struggled  against  the  feeling, 
.fir^^^^^'le^tly  a  symbol.    OfwSat? 
iTie  patient  was  a  woman  of  culture 
who  felt  very  keenly  the  loneliness  of  ap- 
proachmg    old    age.    She    had    bulwarked 
herself  agamst  thoughts  of  age  and  death 
by  surroundmg  herself  with  youthful  friends 
and  compamons.    One  of  these  friends,  of 
whom  she  w;as  most  fond,  had  been  accus- 
tomed to  sit  m  the  now  dreaded  chair.    Two 
days  after  such  a  visit  the    friend    had 
suddenly  died  of  pneumonia.    Death  had 
been   leamng   over   that    chair.    But   my 
patient  would  not  aUow  the  fear  of  death  to 
have  a  place  in  her  mind.    Consequently 
the  feehng  appeared  only  as  an  unexplain- 

nSS»f  ^v°^.*^^  '=^'  ^  msomnia  con- 
nected with  the  sight  of  the  chair,  and  a 
mysterious  illness  and  depression. 

Another  patient  had  a  violent  hatred  of 
red  of  the  odor  of  peppermint,  of  sticks  of 
candy,  and  of  dark  women,  particularly  if 
they  wore  anything  red.  Any  of  these 
symbols  was  sufficient  to  affect  her  with  an 
emotion  of  dread  and  repulsion,  and  the 
feehng  of  fear  had  been  active  in  warping 


■li 


IN  HEALTH 
her  life,  ruining  her  health,  and  thwarting 
her  happiness.  All  these  symbols  were  easily 
traced  back  to  a  day  in  her  early  childhood 
When  a  gypsy  woman  had  tried  to  abduct 

f!n'i.^5^  ''f"^  ^^  *^^y  frani  her  home 
wth  a  stick  of  peppermint  candy,  striped  in 
red  and  white. 

"StiU  another  patient,  a  married  woman, 
devoted  to  her  husband,  became  morbidly 
afraid  that  she  was  losing  her  mind.    For 
no  apparent  reason,  at  unaccountable  mo- 
ments, she  would  develop  the  most  violent 
nervous  agitation  and  rush  out  of  the  house 
quite  distraught,  to  seek  refuge  with  her 
naghbors  and  confide  her  fears  to  them 
lUese  attacks  began  in  a  wave  of  dread  so 
unr^sonable  that  it  seemed  to  her  as  if  her 
mmd  were  giving  way.    As  so«i  a»  I  twolc 
her  back  to  the  actual  moment  of  eada 
seizure  it  becaaae  appw«rt  that  several  of 
them   baa   begun   with   the   ringi,^   of  a 
telephone  bdl.     One  had  ^«s  upon  sight 
of  a  coat  of  a  pecwliar  color.     Still  another 
was  comwcted  with  the  rigii^haod  cushion 
at  an  autombbtie. 

"The  explanafiea  was  so  simplie  that  the 
only  mystery  was  her  anconsdoiMoeas  of  ^t 
I  found  that  one  night,  about  u  t'<*x:k 
her  telephone  beU  had  na^  while  her  h«E- 
OUOC  wac  (mt  awtonK^jdin*.  and  a  itianie 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 

voice  had  abruptly  communicated  a  bit  <rf 
slanderous  gossip  about  him  and  the  woman 
who  was  his  companion  in  the  car.  The 
coat  was  like  the  one  worn  by  his  companion, 
who  sat  at  the  right-hand  side  of  the  car. 

"The  wife  had  proudly  refused  to  men- 
tion the  matter  to  her  husband.    She  had 
suppressed  her  instinctive  jealousy  deter- 
minedly.   By  so  doing  she  had  afflicted  her- 
self with  a  'floating  anxiety'  that  made  her 
ttunk  she  was  going  crazy.    She  was  cured 
by  bemg  taugh^  to  say  to  herself,  'I  am 
afraid  of  losing  my  husband, '  whenever  she 
found  herself  thinking,  '  I  am  afraid  of  losing 
my  mmd.'    With  her  husband's  assistance 
her  natural  jealousy  was  also  removed,  and 
the  whole  phobia  disappeared." 

Now,  we  do  not  know  how  the  bodily 
symptoms  of  a  psychic  conflict  can  be  cured 
by  simply  bringing  the  conflict  into  the 
a)nscious  mind  and  relieving  the  repression. 
Apparently   the   emotion   drains   itself   oflf 
harmlessly  in  consciousness;  whereas,  if  it 
IS  suppressed  into  the  unconscious  mind,  it 
either  leaks  disastrously  into  the  vegetative 
nervous  system  or  gets  into  the  conscious 
nund  as  an  unexplained  emotion,  such  as  an 
anxiety,  or  transforms  its  eneigy  into  an 
mipulse  to  compulsive  thoughts  and  actions. 
We  shall  have  to  consider,  in  subsequent 
70 


IN  HEALTH 

daptm,  the  reappearance  of  these  repres- 
aons  m  the  form  of  uncontrollable  impulses 
And  the  manner  in  whidi  they  produce  un- 
toppmett  tftid  mental  strain  will  also  be 
dxscoasea  hereafter.     For  the  moment,  we 

S"uf°^^  "^^  "^^^   *^«'-  effect  on 
h^th     It   ,s  a   sufficiently   inexhaustible 
subjMt.    A  whole  library   of  monographs 
would  not  do  it  justice.    A  repres^  in- 
stmctive  emotion  may  transform  itself  into 
the  symptoms  of  almost  any  physical  dis- 
order that  wai  help  the  patient  to  escape 
from  his  mental  distress— as  the  shell-shock 
victm  goes  blind  because  of  his  unconscious 
wish  to  escape  from  the  battlefield.    Deaf- 
ness, blindness,  paralysis,  epilepsy,  and  va- 
nous  sorts  of  insanity  may  be  so  produced. 
Wliere  the  emotion  is  less  powerful,  it  may 
be  repressed  into  the  switchboard  of  the 
imconscious  bodily  processes  which   phy- 
sicians caU  "the  vegetative  nervous  system"- 
and  there  it  may  cause  almost  any  sort  of 
obscure  functional  disturbance,  not  only  in 
the  nervous  system  itself,  but  in  the  digestive 
proasses  and  all  the  organs  of  digestion, 
in  the  mtemal  glands  and  their  secretions, 
m  the  circulatory  system  and  the  blood, 
and  most  easily  of  all  apparently  in  the  skin. 
I  have  watched  the  cure  of  one  of  Doctor 
X.  s  patients  who  had  been  for  years  under 
71 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 
treatment  by  specialists,  and  they  had 
pursued  the  symptoms  of  disorders  of  the 
eye,  eax  throat,  and  nose  from  orwm  to 
oxT^  diligently,  operating  on  the  ^msils. 
steaightemng  the  septum  of  the  nose,^^*. 

so  forth  endlessly,  until  Doctor  X-beine 
TOiKulted  as  a  goiter  expert-  ound  thatthe 
patoifs  medical  history  had  begun  with  a 
pathological   blushing,    and   he  ?^^J 

,S^  %  l^  ^,  ^^  symptoms  arose     Si^ 
Jarly,  I  have  fpUowed  the  case  of  another 

m^t  fi "??  ^^..^^  y^  ^^^^  ^^ 

ment,  first  for  mdigestion,  then  for  diseases 
of  the  pelvic  region,  and  finally  for  neu- 
rasthenia complicated  by  a "  floating  kidney, ' ' 
before  he  came  to  Doctor  X  for  diagni 

^i  !!'  T^^  "1  a  few  months  by  bS 

rdieved  of  the  unconscious  repressions  frorl 

which  he  was  really  suffering 
It  would  be  absurd  for  me  to  attempt  to 

give  the  medical  details  of  such  cases  her? 
or  to  attempt  to  instruct  the  general  readS 
m  the  method  by  which  they^ma^e^ 
n^  and  treated  The  repression  is  S 
complex  and  mvolved-repression  added  to 
repression-^d  the  cure  is  correspondingly 

i^^^'^^.    ^'  ^  enough  forS 
purposes  to  consider,  not  how  these  dis- 


IN  HEALTH 

orders  may  be  cured,  but  how  they  may  be 
prevented.  And  the  method  of  prevention 
is  this: 

If  you  wish  to  keep  well,  do  not  try  to 
repress  your  emotions,  your  instinctive  feel- 
ings,  your  compulsive  thoughts.     Do  not 
act  on  them,  necessarily;  but  always  allow 
them  to  drain  themselves  off  in  your  con- 
scious mind.    "However  mean  and  cowardly 
and  impious  and  undutiful  and  low  they 
may  be,"  Doctor  X  advises,  "accept  them 
mto  the  most  airy  chamber  of  your  thought 
and  examine  them  there  unabashed.     If  you 
drive  them  down  into  your  secret  cellar,  they 
may  end  by  tearing  down  the  whole  house. 
If  you  welcome  them  into  your  parlor,  you 
may  be  surprised  to  see  how  quickly  they  will 
wash  their  faces  and  change  their  clothes  and 
make  themselves  respectable." 

At  first  sight,  this  seems  a  simple  pre- 
scription. It  is,  in  fact,  startling  and  revo- 
lutionary. Half  the  sins  of  the  church 
catalogue  are  sins  of  thought.  Our  religious 
education  has  largely  directed  itself  to  the 
government  of  our  minds.  To  think  murder 
is  to  do  murder.  Hatred,  envy,  jealousy, 
concupiscence,  anger,  pride,  and  so  forth,  are 
all  only  one  degree  less  sinful  than  the 
actions  which  they  might  inspire. 

"It  is  not  my  business  to  argue  that  such 

'"  73 


lilt 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 
J^cWng  is  bad  as  ethics  or  relWnn  •• 

't  fails  of  its  i^^^^T^!  ^'  r  *^* 
presses  his  inrtS'  haT^^/  ''^  "^ 
fether  as  a  sin  is  mS.3cl !"  ^i^ 

wish  fft  wii     •       ''"'^''  anger — ^wmch  is  the 

conscious  mind,  and  faces  it  «!^         .  ^ 
'You  nuiy  havr y,^  „1"^  "*>?  *° '*- 

thoughts,  but  Jou^„T  Z^^-  •"  °y 

actiOTB  •    Ami  1,    "   ^°*   ^   ioto   my 

SSLdt  yotS?*  *^  "^^"^"^  ^ 
able  tofind  a  ^vT  '  ^°"  ^  ^^  «»°« 
«tobeSo?lJS:;^'^^"'*>''^'^*«> 
Whether  Doctor  X  wishes  to  amie  it  or 


fi| 


IN  HEALTH 

matake  about  our  other  inrtiactive  and 
onfuljmpulaes  as  the  miUtary  authorities 
^ve  N«n  fflakmg  about  our  instinctive 
fear.  By  teaching  us  that  we  must  suppress 
audi  thoughts  from  our  minds  with  shame 
and  self-reproach,  they  have  betrayed  us  aU 
into  various  forms  of  moral  sheU-shock  that 
have  defeated  the  ends  of  moraUty.    For 

the  battlefield  may  aciiin  its  purpose  by 
blmding  Its  victim,  our  other  suppressed 
mstmctive  wishes  succeed  in  evading  our 
niOTal  censors  by  adopting  similar  disguises 
And  whether  Doctor  X  wishes  to  argue 
It  or  not,  this  new  light  on  our  moral  piob- 
lems  IS  going  to  force  as  great  a  change  in 
our  ethical  and  religious  teaching  as  the 
tneOTy  of  the  subconscious  mind  is  ah-eady 
making  in  the  practice  of  medicine.    It  is 
the  beguming  of  a  new  quarrel  between 
science  and  religion  beside  which  the  con- 
ti-oversies  over  the  Darwinian  theory  wiU 
seem  mild  oiough.    And  it  is  the  beginning 
ot  a  hope  that  after  centuries  of  failure  to 
amtool  the  instinctive  animal  in  man— his 
passions  and  his  cruelties-ethics  and  phi- 
losophy have  at  last  been  given  a  clue  to 
problems  that  have  been  the  despair  of 
rthics  and  philosophy  since  man  began  to 
think  about  himself. 

75 


il    I 


CHAPTER  IV 

IN    CHILDHOOD 

H^^  r  *"*•  *•'*"•  ^th  three  great  facts 
about  ourselves:  oursubconsSS 

stujcts  work;  our  instincts  are  as  compSsive 
w,^  us  as  with  the  anin^s.  and  move Tb^ 
means  of  mstmctive  emotions  that  rerister 

ZT^'  T  "^^  ^^^  *^«^  emotions  from 
Tn  «^^^''  '"«*^'l°f  Jetting  them  drain S 
m  "^ousness  they  are  likely  to  reappS 

^n«^  •■  ^"^hermore,  these  instinctive 
emotions  m  man,  as  in  the  animals  have 
startmg  signals,  which  we  call  "  symbols  "- 
such   as  the    "love  image,"  wS  is  th^ 

we  M^  liable  to  be  as  mechanically  moved 

Sly  S  n't-'  ^,the  rabbit  is  aut^CS 
cauy  set  m  motion  by  t^e  hark  of  a  dog 

^tiS^-         T'  .''  "•'^    -''«  ''hole  of  the 

mS^Sr^  ^f""^.-    ^*^«   subconscious 

mind  is  the  mmd  with  which  we  are  bora. 

76 


IN  CHILDHOOD 

It  18  the  mind  that  controls  us  before  we 
devdop  a  consdous  intelligence,  a  thinldng 
™md^  at  all.  It  has  a  recorf  of  infantilf 
«q)er.«»ces  and  conclusions  that  persist  in 

And  tW  ^"^^^  """  "'  "^^"^  of  them. 
And  these  have  a  powerful,  though  un- 
consaous,  mflu^ice  on  us  in  our  later%eiS. 
J^  us  see  what  some  of  these  influ^ces 

is  ^hlJ^^  ^  ?°?^  °"*'  ^^°^  a  child 
except  that  oxygen  is  supplied  fronT  tht 
mtenxa^  body  and  not  thS.gh  ti^Thild' 
Ztin.  1  ^  T'  ^T^'^'^S-  It«  heart  is 
JS2*th.  ,?  '%  °*^f  "'^^^  functioning 
tihl  "JiL  *  V^'^*'""  °^  ^^^*  physicians  caU 
the     vegetative  nervous  system  "-that  is 

SielLTf'^K  K^"^.  °'  «««=iousnes^^ 
St  ^tT  ^  *'«."^  beating  for  months,  so 
Stiln  Jr»,^'i!'^.  ^  P'ote'^tive  habit  of 
action  which  makes  it  more  independent  of 
^scious  thought  than  other  Ss  L^ 
Impressions   are    being   registered   on  Te 
bram.  but  they  are  impressions  of  perfS 
ff*^tf,?^t.    The  whole  period  is  one  tS 
hecaUs-theperiodofomnipotentindolLe/' 
Our  msane  asylums,"  he  says,  "are  full 
of  minds  that  have  reverted  t^  ihis  Lte 

SiiteteH"  ^"'^If  ^^  contentment  which  is 

mutated  by  the  warm  bath,   the  nest  or 

77 


MldOCOPY   IBOlUflON   TBT   CHART 

'ANSI  and  ISO  TEST  CHART  No.  2) 


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^BS  (71G)   786  -S9B9  -Fax 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 

burrow,  or  the  mother's  arms.  It  is  the 
mertia  which  the  utterly  broken  man  ex- 
periences. We  see  it  very  clearly  in  the 
'cavern  dreams'  of  a  certain  class  of  psy- 
chotics.  It  is  the  goal  of  escape  for  many 
who  commit  suicide." 

Immediately  upon  birth,  this  condition  of 
mdolent  contentment  undei^goes  a  terrifying 
change.    The  body  is  assailed  by  sensations 
of  roughness  and  cold  and  shocking  dis- 
comfort.   It  is  also  assailed  by  the  danger 
of  suffocation,  because  the  maternal  supply 
of  oxygen  has  been  cut  off  and  the  lungs  are 
not  yet  workirig.    The  child  in  its  agony 
utters  a  cry.    That  cry  saves  its  life.    The 
lungs  receive  their  oxygen.    The  danger  of 
suffocation  is  averted.    And  the  symbol  of 
what  Doctor  X  calls  "the  magic  cry"  is 
established  in  the  child's  subconscious  mind. 
"It  is  probable,"  he  says,  "that  the  agony 
of  birth  also  establishes  in  our  subconscious 
mind  the  fear  of  death  by  suffocation  as  the 
great  symbol  of  danger.    In  most  people  the 
first  expression  of  panic  under  physical  or 
psychic  stress  is  the  cry,  'I  can't  get  my 
breath!"      Nervous  patients  —  neurotics — 
always  tell  you  that  in  crowds  or  on  street 
cars  they  'feel  suffocated.'    The  convulsive 
'chest  heaves'  of  the  moving-picture  hero- 
ines in  distress  simulate  a  normal  expression 


IN  CHILDHOOD 

of  the  same  nattire.  And  the  escape  from 
su£focation — the  act  of  breathing — comes  to 
be  a  symbol,  too.  Throughout  life,  there- 
after, a  deep  breath  becomes  the  expression 
of  every  sort  of  escape,  of  every  feeling  of 
freedom  or  of  power.  It  signalizes  the 
escape  from  the  oppression  of  an  enemy's 
presence  as  well  as  the  removal  of  a  mental 
worry.  A  sigh  expresses  the  wish  for  free- 
dom from  a  weight  of  care.  The  proud 
man  puffs  out  his  chest." 

The  infant,  with  its  lungs  supplied,  feels 
its  next  discomfort  in  a  hungry  contraction 
of  the  stomach  which  obtrudes  upon  the 
quiet  contentment  of  breathing.  The  magic 
cry  is  again  resorted  to,  and  food  is  supplied 
to  sucking  movements.  Sucking  is  thereby 
demonstrated  to  be  a  device  that  dispels 
discomfort,  and  the  infant  uses  it,  thereafter, 
to  allay  discomfort  of  any  kind.  The 
"pacifier,"  the  "comforter,"  has  power  not 
only  over  hunger,  but  over  cold,  lonesome- 
ness,  and  pain.  It  continues  to  have  that 
power  in  the  subconscious  mind  throughout 
life.  At  first,  the  unconscious  impulse  takes 
the  form  of  thumb-sucking.  The  older 
child,  when  it  is  embarrassed,  puts  its  finger 
m  Its  mouth.  The  laborious  young  penman 
sucks  his  tongue.  Adults  suck  the  insides 
of  their  cheeks  or  bite  a  penholder  when 
79 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 

they  are  puzzled.  The  cigar,  the  quid  of 
chewmg  tobacco,  the  cigarette,  the  chewi^ 
gum,  or  the  caramel  are  adult  aids  to  a  c^ 
dition  of  suckmg  satisfaction.  Eating  has  a 
power  of  restoring  self-confidence  that  ex- 
ceeds mere  food  values. 

it  !Sf  ^^-  ^^*''  '^  '^P°rts  discomfort 

o  Svfr'  ?!?  **"'  ""^.^^^^  themother 
lo  reaeve  it.  Skm  warmth  and  smo^  ^^ness 
become  a  fixed  "pleasure  value"  J  TlS 
subcaasciousmind.  To  sit  by  a  warm  fire 
m  a  soft  smokmg  jacket,  sucking  a  pipe  or 

tnat  differs  m  no  material  way  from  the 
comfort  of  the  third  day  of  life, VdTt  re! 
stores  confidence  because  it  r;peats  a^d 
reproduces  a  'stage  sef-so  to  Sak-tSt 

J  finn'T".  ''^"^  *°  ^^  subconscious  mind. 
1   tad  that  many  patients  suffering  with 

Sir  ^^'i  that  the  Turkish  bath,  the 
^a^ge  and  many  rather  faddish  t;eat- 
ments  of  nervous  diseases  owe  their  value 
to  the  feeling  of  security  which  arises  from 
aB  unconscious  connection  with  the  'security 
values  of  e^ly  childhood.  Any  stroking 
of  the  skm,  for  mstance,  appears  to  have 
an  unconscious  connection  with  the  pres- 
8o 


IN  CHILDHOOD 

motile/'^*'  fi^  object  of  recognition,  the 
The  cradled  child,  by  virtue  of  his  majric 
cry,  hves  in  a  sort  of  semiomnipotence^He 
is  a  pCTfect  egoist.    He  is  completely  self- 
^tered,   rejoidng   in   "oi^an    pleasures" 
wholly.    He  IS  happy  in  the  .satisfaction  of 
his  physical  needs.    His  first  appreciations 
of  pleasure  and  power  are  shown  in  the 
performance  of  his  bodily  functions.    His 
first   convictions   of  weU-being  apparently 
anse  from  the  good  "feeling  tones"  that  are 
reported  to  his  unconscious  mind  from  aU 
his  vital  organs.     "And  I  find  in  my  prac- 
tice,   says  Doctor  X.  "that  these  values 
persist  as  thmgs  of  basic  importance  to 
happmessm  later  life.    All  the  organs  of  the 
body  seem  constantly  to  be  sending  mes- 
sages to  the  subconscious  mind,  reportine 
theu-   condition.    And    the   sum   of   thek 
reports  makes  what  we  call  the  'feeling'  of 
weU-being  or  its  opposite.    If  the  total  of 
these    feehng  tones'   is  adverse,   we  are 
gl<x)niy    melancholy,   or  generally   'feeling 
bad.     If  the  whole  stream  of  feeling  tones 
IS  good,  we  are  cheerful,  optimistic,  happy. 
1  find  that  much  adult  happiness  has  this 
subconscious   basis.    That   is   particularly 
true  of  cheerfulness  in  the  face  of  adversity  " 
He  is  a  wise  man,  therefore,  who  tries  to 

8t 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 
re-Mtablish  these  good-feelmg  tones  by  re- 
S^."*  J^.body  lite  aThfld     l£^^ 
niake  the  begmning  of  a  happy  and  ^. 
confident  day  by  preparing  for  hinSelf  a 
comfortable  body  andlakin|  pleas^t  it* 
A  httle  ocercise,  the  freedom  of  a  leisurdv 
bath    and  the  refreshment  of  skin  friS 
vnll  help  to  establish  an  unconscious  2S 
of  well-bemg.    So  will  the  completiorS 
digestive  process,  which  gives  to  the  child 
feelmgs  of  satisfaction  and  power  that^ 
2ten  lost  to  the  adult  bSuse  of  f^ 

S"^,  W  ?'^tWng  is  a  pleasure  ennob^ 
by  Its  fir^  importance  as  an  escape  from 
death;  and  by  breathing  deeply  ^d  wS 
you  can  acquire  a  sense  of  4iatp  ^ 
confidence  that  defies  unhappiness.    EatW 
t^'^'^'^f  ^^-  ^^^  absorb^I  attentiorS 
another  device  to  restore  subconsd^^  wdJ 
being     And  walking,  which  brings  tS  Sd 
js  first  ta.te  of  real  ability,  has  L  aSSng 
value  to  the  instinctive  mind  if  you^ 

with  the  abdomen  in  and  the  chest  out 

Throughout  the  day,  a  cramped  position 
a^lanng  hght,  annoying  sounds,  a  S^ 

tm^'  re  ^/!f*.'  °'  «^*™  Station  may 
turn  discomfort  mto  unhappiness  and  con- 
vert mitmtive  into  inerti^  "Thr?ha?' 
says  Doctor  X.  "demands  with  loud  wails 
83 


IN  CHILDHOOD 

^iJT^*'  °i  *°y  '^'^  °f  discontent. 
ConadCT  the  infant  and  learn  wisdom.  We 
racier  deqjise  the  man  who  coddles  his 
body  but  if  coddhng  increases  ener^  w£t 
llTL  ^"^^  *^*  domesticated^'nZ^ 
Oiecat  Noammalvaluesitscomfor^more. 
Vet  no  animal  has  a  more  tireless  enerey 
when  energy  is  called  for."  ^' 

To    return    to    the    child-his    stage    of 
cracUed  egoism  and  organ  pleasures  ends  with 

when  he  begins  to  try  to  walk.     He  leams 
that  his  self  is  insufScient.    He  seeteT 

S  r  n^:  ^^  ^^'  '*  ^  his  Ser 
To  such  mmd  as  he  has  at  the  time  her 
power  IS  supernatural.  The  foundation  of 
religion  IS  laid.  And,  like  all  pri^ftive 
inmds  he  leams  to  invoke  that  supSS 
power  bywhatl^torXcalls-incantSSr^ 
That  IS  to  say,  the  child  discovers  devices 

attenr^  °^7^  ^'  ^'"'^''^  the  motS 
attention,  and  obtains  assistance,  approval 

Ko^^tT'  ?^^"^^'^  satikacCof 
k!1T:<  1,  ^  ^^""^  progress  along  the 
hneof  showmgoflf."  He  leams  many  en! 
deanng  ways  of  winning  his  mother's 
^^.  and  her  approvallays  the  fS 
boi^.  of  consciaice.    At  the  same  time  he 

is^r"""'  ^^"^^  self-assertion,  and  he 

IS  thereby  compensated  for  the  loss  of  his 

83 


■m  I 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 

indolent  "^-gan  pleasures"  and  for  the  im- 
painnent  ot  the  original  self-sufficiency  of 
his  cradled  egoism. 

"He  is  now,"  says  Doctor  X,  "at  a  very 
dangerous  point  in  his  growth."  His  mind 
IS  almost  wholly  an  unconscious  mind,  the 
mind  of  animal  instincts,  the  primitive  mind 
of  early  savagery  that  has  to  be  civilized 
and  socialized.  The  process  may  easily  be 
disastrous.     Why? 

Let  me  first ,  give  some  instances  from 
Doctor  X's  cases. 

Among  them  is  a  little  girl  named  Amy, 
who  had  developed  such  a  rapid  heartbeat 
that  her  physician  concluded  she  must  be 
suffering  from  thyroid  trouble  and  sent  her 
to  Doctor  X  for  diagnosis.  She  was  very 
nervous.  She  had  incipient  symptoms  of 
St.  Vitus's  dance.  Since  any  exaggerated 
activity  of  the  thyroid  gland  gives  an 
accelerated  pulse  and  similar  functional 
disturbances,  it  was  naturally  supposed  that 
her  thjrroid  was  affected. 

Her  mother  came  with  her.  She  was  a 
well-to-do  widow,  living  in  apartments,  and 
Amy  was  her  only  child.  She  was  in  a 
pitifxd  state  of  nervous  anxiety  herself.  She 
was,  in  fact,  ahnost  as  nervous  as  her 
daughter. 

"Examination  showed,"  the  doctor  savs. 
84 


IN  CHILDHOOD 

*'  tjat  Amy  had  no  thyroid  trouble-that  she 
had.  in  fact,  no  physical  defect  suffiSt  to 
account  for  her  condition.    She  waTnaS 
and  peaked-looking,  subject  to  b^chS 
weanng  clothing  that  was  much  too  S^fe 
the  season,  undernourished  and  oversSve 
but  basically  sound.    I  found  <^TmM 
mfection  of  the  tonsils.    When  I  ^S 
that  these  should  be  removed  the  mS 
cned  ou^  against  it.    She  could  LrWe 
her   chUd   operated   on.    Amy   might   d^ 

d^liter.    She  began  to  weep,  and  so  did 

wilZ!7Jl^"'"  *"^  ^°^  ^«^'  "perhaps  it 
^w  ^  "^^^fssary.  Let  us  s^e."  And 
he  began  to  explore  for  the  secret  sprinT 

r^  '•  ^u  ""^"^  ^°'-  ^^'^e  momVnts  to 
^gmze  her  mother  when  her  mothS^TriS 

tt^H.^'^Y  ^"^  ^^  ^^'  thereforrS 
the  child  s  subconscious  mind— in  her  d«Urn 
tnmd.    What  was  that  fear?  *^" 

Her  mother  would  not  let  her  play  with 
other  children  for  fear  she  might  S^hm 
Her  mother  would  not  let  her|o  to  sdi^i 
alone  for  fear  she  might  be  run  over  cSj 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 

^«T„  ?^u"  ^^^  ^<»'  '"'s  dismissed 
so  as  to  waUc  home  with  her.  She  nev^let 
{^y  °"i°f  her  sight  if  she  co.M  hZ  it 
w^^  *^*  something  might  happen  ^She 
worried  continually  abou?  Am^h«Jth 
kept  her  m  an  overheated  api^iiTS 

in  fact,  she  was  m  a  constant  state  of 
fiuttenng  panic  about  the  child. 

NoTi  the  doctor  explains,  "when  an 
mfant  starts  out  in  life  its  o^e  pS  ^ 
security  ,s  Its  mother's  amis.  On  thfap- 
proach  of  a  stranger,  or  after  the  disaS^inl 
ment  o  a  fall,  or  when  it  has  beendeC 
^JT^^  fhild.  it  will  fly  to  its  Sef 
The  mother's  arms  are  really  a  haven  nf 
refuge  where  it  may  replenSL  st^h- 
Jke  Ant^  in  the  fable,  who  washed 

Z.T'^:-  ^*^  ^°^^  Earth.  S  The 
child  s  infantile  defeats  ai«  repaired  ht 
maternal  affection.  It  is  ^  J^t  t5^ 
agam,  fortified  against  fear,  given^w  co7 

wmch  It  early  begins  to  develop  as  the 
result  of  Its  instinct  of  self-assertion?' 

chUdiir.^'^'^'"*.  *>*  ""^^  «*«e  Amy  in 
chddidi  terror  had  sought  her  mother^ 
protection  she  had  found  ther«  only  a  fL 
lAe  her  own,  and  this  fear  had  re^istS 

86 


IN  CHILDHOOD 

S^r^'^^*?"  "^^  *^*  >*  ^as  now  deep  in 
her  subconsoous  mind.  It  came  out  S 
^htm  her  dreams.    All  the  accumulati 

adents  and  uncertainties  of  its  first  steps 
uuhe  world  were  waiting  in  nightmares  fo 
•'"ny.    That  much  -•'as  plain 
It  was  also  discov      ble  from  Amy  herself 

scftool  had  taught  her  the  necessity  of 
^ppressmg  her  fea,^  as  "  babyish, '^j^.Ae 
had  evidently  been  trying  to  ^^pp^ess  them 
ohL  ^\/^:^'^  not  ^ress  the  physical 
changes  that  go  with  fear,  and  it  wL  S 
phyacal  effects  that  were  being  mistS 
for  the  symptoms  of  thyroid  disTurbance. 

The  cure  was  difficult,  because  it  was  first 
naessary  to  cure  the  mother-which  waTa 
^er«xt  matter.    However,  on  Scn^i? 

SX^if .**^*  ^^  ^'^  ^^  being  HtSuv 
g^^  to  death,  it  became  poLble  fc^ 
JJ^  X  to  use  her  maternal  love  against 
*5,l-Zf '  *"  ^^'  "^y  «  fear  of  death. 
&tvV^"°^  trngovemaUe  anxieties 
f«w  ^  ^f  ^^y^  ^<='"^ed  not  only  her 
^1^  ^f.daughter's  life  and  safety!  but 
a  dread  of  financial  disaster,  showing   tself 

X^"^"^-     "And  miserliness?' !)S>r 

X  rem^l^,  ",,        ^j  ^^e  commonest  masks 

that  the  fear  of  death  assumes  "  ^^ 

87 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 

Jli^l\u^  i*^;  ""^  "^^  toward 
health  by  Uie  development  of  that  instinct 
of  love  for  the  opposite  sex  which  comes  with 
adolescence.  Such  is  nature's  way  of  com- 
pletmg  the  detachment  of  the  iild  frotn 

2fi  ^^- }!  ^y  ^^  «  ^^^^  ^o 

^^^''^Z}^^  ''^  °^  ^«^ty  '^Wch  her 
mother  failed  to  give  her.  she  may  grow 
to  be  a  fairly  normal  and  happy  wo^. 

Her  mother  has  done  her  what  may  easily 

?^S2ed^'         ""   "^"^   *^*   **°°°'   ^ 
•  J?®^  *^,  another  case,  involving  not  the 
mstmct  of  fear,  but  of  affection- 
1  ^T  '^^.^  Doctor  X  recently  an 
Insh  boy  of  mneteen  or  twenty  who  was 
havmg  trouble  with  his  eyes.    He  was  a 
clerk  WOTking  on  accounts  in  a  busmess 
office.    His  eyes  were  "aU  to  the  bad,"  as 
tL^  Ki  ^^f  ^^  tried  to  work  ok  his 
books  black  specks  appeared  around  the 
figures:    and  if  he  persisted  in  trying  to 
WnfL^if  T^^  accumulated  until  they 
Wotted  the  figures  out.    He  was  frightened 
He  was  afraid  of  losing  his  sight.    He  had 
gone  to  an  oculist;  and  the  oculist,  having 
failed  to  find  any  defect  in  his  ej^es.  hJd 
sent  him  to  Doctor  X. 
"I  found  him,"  he  says,  "a  fairly  healthy 

56 


i 


IN  CHILDHOOD 

S^  S^^  ^^"  appealing  and  intim- 
idated look  m  his  eyes  which  I  supposed 
came  from  his  fear  for  his  sight.  Aph?S 
examination  discovered  nothing  to  £SSu 

mstory   with    him    to   find    whether   some 

Uoctor  X  supposed  that  the  repressed  in- 

SSairth^f^''^  '""^  -^"^  ^'""t 
natural  at  the  boy's  age.     Not  so.    He  was 

?riL^,'°K^*?""y^^>-  He  had  no  S 
feends.  He  did  not  go  around  with  yo,L^g 
people  much.  He  gave  most  of  his  spail 
tune  to  his  mother  She  was  a  widow  S 
a  small  income.  They  lived  together,  with- 
out a  servant,  in  a  little  flat,  and  the^  were 

plannmg  any  career.  He  had  no  definite 
a^ibition  At  fifteen  he  had  thought  s^! 
he  fi  °  •  ''""^^  ^°'  ^^^  priesthS  but 
separate  him  from  his  mother.  Being  a 
devout  Roman  Catholic,  he  was  now  ig 
amraids  by  gomg  to  church  twice  every 
Sunday     She  accompanied  him.  ^ 

The   doctor   said:    "Ifs   too   bad   she's 
Rowing  old.    What  will  you  do  wTens^e 

^He  had  touched  the  spring.     "If  I  had 
89 


I 
.1 1 


i'lil  ^ 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 

poked  my  finger  into  an  unbearable  sore 
spot,  he  says,  "I  could  not  have  brought  a 
more  convulsive  expression  of  pain  to  his 
face.  His  eyes  filled  with  teara.  He  could 
not  speak." 

"Was  she  ill?" 

"No.  She  was  not  very  strong,  but  he  did 
not  let  her  work  much." 

"Wasn't  she  lonely  when  he  'vas  awav  at 
work?" 

"Yes,  but  he  always  hurried  home  at  noon 
to  see  how  she  was,  and  he  had  had  a  tele- 
phone mstaUed  in  the  flat  so  that  he  might 
caU  her  up  whenever  he  felt  anxious  about 
her. 

"The  thought  of  her  death,  of  course,  was 
temble.  He  remembered  that  at  fifteen  he 
had  decided  he  would  like  to  die  if  she  died 
Now  that  he  was  unable  to  work,  he  stayed 
at  home  with  her,  helped  her  to  keep  the 
flat  m  order,  went  shopping  with  her,  and 
either  played  cards  with  her  in  the  evening 
or  sat  smoking  while  she  read  the  newspaper 
to  him."  *^ 

"Did  the  black  specks  interfere  with  his 
card  playing?" 

"No     They  were  only  really  bad  when  he 
worked  with  figures  at  the  ofiice.    She  did 
not  let  him  use  his  eyes  much  at  home." 
In   short,"   the  doctor  says,    "it  was 
90 


IN  CHILDHOOD 
evident  that  the  black  specks  in  his  eyes  were 
J  IC1V  ^^"^^  mechanism  by  which  he  was 
fulfilling  his  subconscious  wish   to  escape 
from  his  work  and  stay  home  with  his  mother 
I  e^lained  to  the  boy  what  was  the  matter 
with  him.    I  advised  him  to  yield  to  his 
mstmctive  wish  for  the  love  and  protection 
of  his  mother's  care  and  to  remain  at  home 
for  the  present.    I  also  persuaded  him  to 
lean  on  me.    By  that  last  item  of  advice 
I  obtained  what  we  caU  a  'transference.' 
His  father  was  dead.    I  was  accepted  by 
htm    unconsciously,  in  the  place  of  that 
father  unage'  which  is  often  so  strong  an 
mfluence  in  life  even  when  no  father  is 
remembered.    I   began  to   share   with  his 
mother  m  his  childish  need  for  a  place  of 
security  and  refuge  from  the  world. 

"The  specks  in  his  eyes  disappeared  at 
once,  but  the  remainder  of  his  cure  is  going 
to  be  no  easy  matter.    At  his  best,  he  will 
never  be  able  to  play  an  independent  part 
m  life.    If  he  marries,  it  will  probably  be 
a  woman  older  than  he,  to  whom  he  will 
transfer  his  'mother  image',  but  this  will 
lordly  occur  till  after  his  mother's  death 
He  will  always  be  a  shrinking,  sensitive, 
dependent  person,  content  with  a  humble 
but  secure  position  on  a  small  salary,  in- 
capable of  initiative,  honest,  devoutly  re- 
s' 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 


ligious,  below  the  ftVAr=„«  • 
n>ore  l^XS'^  «^  ^  that  is  both 

was  brought  to  Doctory^  *  ^  *  "^  ^^^ 
sufferingleith  two^  W'^°"*  ^  ^^  ^^o, 
nervous  sniffing    and  •^.r*'^^  «  ^°'itin"al 

avez^on  of  thf '  e^ef  He  S'  %""^ 
automobiles  that  =1  .  f  ^'^  *  ^ear  of 
sight  of  o?e  tn^r*"*^  *°  ^  Ph^bi^:  the 
panic,  anH  w£  au^S"?  "^^-^  ^t°  « 
to  cross  a  s  reTTif  S.  ™P°^We  for  him 

jght  HehrciSxss?" 

his  lessons  at  school  w,-o  *  ,.'^°^  "» 
P-nounced  himt^taclSe  ^''^e?  ^ 
STet^-^^tn^-r^eT^Srair 
been  sentTo  SS  Vl^'^  ««  ^ 
cialist,"  to  discover  wW^ht,    ^^  "P^" 


IN  CHILDHOOD 

him  as  if  he  were  in  his  father's  study 
hearing  the  tale  of  his  latest  wrongdoing 
and  expecting  consequences  not  pleasant  to 
anticipate." 

His  parents  were  healthy  and  well-to-do 
He  was  weU  built  and  fairly  well  nourished. 
A  thorough  physical  examination  found  no 
obvious  disease.  He  was  like  a  watch  that 
hM  no  apparent  mechanical  defect  and  yet 
refused  to  keep  time. 

"If  such  a  boy  had  been  brought  to  me 
tMi  or  fifteen  years  ago,"  the  doctor  says, 
I  should  have  been  able  to  do  nothing  for 
him  except  give  him  some  cahning  drugs 
for  his  nerves  and  assure  his  mother  that  he 
would  probably  'outgrow'  his  troubles.  But 
nowadays  we  can  do  a  little  better  than 
that.  I  got  his  mother  to  leave  him  with 
me,  and  as  soon  as  I  had  somewhat  gained 
his  confidence  I  began  to  explore  his  mind. 

It  seemed  that  his  chief  difficulty  in 
school  was  with  arithmetic.    He  could  not 
do  'sums.'    I  gave  him  Hsts  of  figures  to 
repeat  after  me,  and  I  found  that  very  often 
when  I  ifave  him  a  2  he  repeated  it  as  a  5 
Apparently  he  did  that  without  being  aware 
of  It.     I  tried  him  often  enough  to  be  sure 
that  the  substitution  was  what  we  call  a 
'compulsion'  and  not  within   his  control 
Then  I  asked  him,  'Who  is  5?' 
93 


THE  SECRET  SPKINGS 

Oii6    WflS     5      if 

o'clock  she  gave  hSI:.".'"^"'^  ^*  ^^^ 

them,  aiiusL  S  tS?^""'  P^^J^g  with 
"And  who  "  th^^' *!"^«  *^"°  dories. 
Two  proved  t  h^'Zu^^'  "«  2?" 

a    Miss    W,  who    h  J  *f^**^  at  school, 

and  the  teachS  «t  W  '^?^'  ^^^  a  2. 
loved  5's  aS  helov^^r^'"^?'*^-  ^^ 
loathed%'sasheitl  v'f^V"^'  and  he 
the  substituticT  But  th^.'  *r ^«--  H«^ce 
become  uncon^ io,^"*  S/"^f  u*^*'°°  '^ad 
-which  indicatedTh^t  ^"'"^  ^'«  control 
was  talangad^S^,^*,S^--d  instinct 

the'inlSlLn%^J2\^:;^^-^ckto 

na:^y  affeSnate'^roCi  ?""  "^  °'^'- 
niore  than  ordinarily  Sus  of  *^''''  ^'^ 
sl'ared  her  love  tA"*^  °^  anyone  who 
iealous  of  his  younger  I!!,tr^°^^Wy 
found  to  be  iiK  rnZu    >  T'tlier,   whom  I 

had  shown  itself  L  q^s^i^^^^^ 
W,^^Uper.ecuti2r25^-^-- 

94 


IN  CHILDHOOD 

bad  temper.  The  nurse  also  favored  the 
younger  brother;  she  had  interfered  to 
protect  him  from  Tommy;  she  had  taken 
sides  against  Tommy;  and  she  had  generally 
turned  the  powers  of  his  nursery  world 
against  him.  Consequently  Tommy  was  in 
a  state  of  angry  revolt  that  made  him 
imposable.  When  his  mother  remonstrated 
with  him  he  could  not  explain  or  justify  his 
conduct.  He  didn't  know  what  was  the 
matter  with  himself.  He  bh'rted  out  that 
he 'hated'  both  his  brother  and  his  nurse. 

"The  mother  reproved  him.  She  told 
him  that  it  was  a  sin  and  a  disgrace  for  him 
to  hate  his  brother  and  his  nurse.  No  little 
boy  of  hers  could  have  such  feelings.  They 
were  shocking.  They  pained  her.  They 
made  her  most  unhappy. 

"To  Tommy,  of  course,  his  mother's  word 
was  more  th  Ji  a  commandment  from  on 
high.  By  her  reproaches  his  instinctive  love 
for  her  was  arotised  to  repress  his  emotions 
of  angei  and  ill  will  against  his  brother  and 
his  ntirse.  But  his  machinery  of  repression 
was  still  immature.  The  emotions  that  he 
was  trsdng  to  repress  had  apparently  escaped 
his  control  when  they  found  the  ss^mbols  2 
and  5  behind  which  to  masquerade.  More- 
over, they  were  presumably  coming  out  in 
an  ungovernable  dislike  of  his  teacher  when 
95 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 


his  nurse."  ^'  "^^  ^«  brother  and 

what  was  vmnJ^withtr  if"^"'  *^  ^ 
his  two  'S"i?e\nn^:  B«t  how  about 
the  roUing  o?the  lyLr  ""^  «°^«  and 

w.'^hTL'^rtS?  u"j^''  ^  *^- 

fume.  Tonuny  had  a  S  ^  !*""«  P^"" 
where  the  odo/wXc  .S  1£  Lf 
in  the  habit  of  wriiJcIiiTur;  J,-  ^  *^ 
malevolently  andr^  ^*  ^?  ^*  °°s«  ^t  it 
told  the  tShS^^that  To  J^"  °*^"'"  P"Py« 
at  her,  and  tie  t^^er  STt^"  ^^^ 
undesirable  seat  ^tS  Si  7^?^  *°  ^ 
as  a  punishment     'r  °^  *he  room 

continS    to  Siff^"™^  retaliated  by 
hostility  '"^   ^"^^   to   expre^ 

out  of  the  co^r  S  ^e^L'it^  ^T^ 
answers  of  a  pupil  on  his Teft  T^e  .  "'" 
tion  was  unjust  an^  tv  •    "®  accusa- 

0PP0dtedireX.™S?£ril7^  "P'  ^  the 
ever  he  was  ^^^^S'  ^^TiT'^^n- 
repressed  the  voi^fSf  it  h  l^"^^"^'  ^« 
-lied  his  eyes  up'^'HS.ce  thf  tS""'  ^"' 
96 


IN  CHILDHOOD 

And  the  phobia  about  automobiles?  Well, 
he  had  .'een  one  of  his  playmates  run  over 
by  an  auto  on  the  street.    It  was  probably 
this  nervous  shock  that  had  weakened  his 
repressive  mechanism  and  allowed  all  his 
repressed  instinctive  emotions  to  escape  in 
the  disguised  fonns  which  they  had  taken. 
In  any  event,   it  had  given  him  a  very 
natural  fear  of  autos.    He  lived  in  a  part 
of  the  city  where  he  had  to  cross  a  main 
avenue  to  go  to  school;  the  avenue  was 
always  crowded  with  autos,  of  course.    He 
did  not  wish  to  go  to  school,  because  he 
disliked  his  teacher.    "Consequently,"   as 
Doctor  X  says,  "his  fear  of  autos  became  a 
phobia— an  unreasoning,  ungovernable  fear 
—in  order  to  prevent  him  from  crossing 
the  avenue  to  reach  his  school.    Like  all 
phobias,   it  disguised  a  hidden   wish— the 
wish,  in  this  case,  to  remain  at  home  with 
his  mother." 

That  was  the  whole  trouble,  then.  Tommy 
was  not  mentally  defective.  He  was  more 
than  ordinarily  bright.  He  was  simply 
shaken  and  bewildered  by  the  struggle  to 
repress  instincts  and  control  emotions  that 
were  too  strong  for  him.  A  child's  jealousy 
of  his  mother's  love  can  be  as  potent  as  a 
husband's  jealousy  of  his  wife.  Imagine 
Othello,  at  the  height  of  his  jealousy  for 
97 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 

and  compeU^tJ^  ^  Desdemona's  father 

ve|:^TfeSS;;SSU?'"^'^*^-^- 

undertook  toZ,?t   Tw^'^  ^^'  ^'^  *« 
to  make  her  s^LVv       "^f  "^'^  difficult 

Koven^We  bS^^^  ^S^T"""^'^  """ 
a  child?    What  ,-r^       •  "^*  '®  anger  in 
"  An  amVn^  •    ^^^  ""  ^  animal? 

path  blcStylS'  °'  'r  ^^  1^^ 
samefood  He  wSi^\^°?^  '^^^  the 
draw.    SuddSr  I^^^  f  ^^"*  to  ^th- 

8a^  the  food  Sa^Jr  ^^Y.^'^aiy;  and 
an  animal  inXht  &,/,  v  ^  ^'^  ^^-  O^ 
and  a  fren^  XfSn^'  ^fcape  impeded; 
of  flight,  enabLfhLT  "'■'^^  ^^  ''^-stinct 

quest  of  his  mate  iV  th™  I^  ^  ^"^'  "^ 

ang^r  reinfoS^'^:  tSS'l?^  "  ""^= 
prouuces  jeakjusv—ft,-       ^      °^  ^  and 

98 


IN  CHILDHOOD 

It  is  a  sort  of  emergeacy  jack  which  springs 
the  motor  mechanism  of  the  instinct  looie 
trom  mertia. 

of  «w  *  '^^  °^.  '^°^y'^  age  the  instinct 
of  sdf-a^ion  IS  most  active,  most  annoy- 
ing to  his  elders,  and  most  certain  to  be 
di^edbythem.  The  checking  of  it  is  the 
most  frequent  cause  of  childish  anger. 
Tommy  was  not  only  sufferitig  with  the 
anger  of  jealousy.  He  was  being  checked  by 
his  nurse  m  his  instinct  of  self-assertion,  and 
sunilarly  by  his  teacher. 

"It  was  necessary  to  explain  to  his  mother 
how  valuable  this  instinct  of  self-assertion 
IS  to  the  formation  of  a  child's  character 
how  It  gives  him  independence  and  self- 
rehance,  and  saves  him  in  after  years  from 
a  sense  of  inferiority  and  from  aU  the  un- 
happmess  of  too  great  humility  and  sensi- 
tivraess  and   inability   to   face   the   hard 
reahties  of  life.    It  was  necessary  to  show 
her  also,  how  this  instinct  of  self-assertion 
mght  without  injury  be  deflected  into  useful 
diannels-as  the  sheep  dog,  forbidden  its 
wolfish  tendency  to  kill,  satisfies  its  instinct 
by  running  around  the  flock  and  herding  if 
or  the  retriever,  originaUy  accustomed  to 
eating  its  prey,  satisfies   the  deflected  in- 
stmct  by  finding  and  bringing  back  the 
game. 

99 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 

whoUy  block  anoE  as^'t^*""*    **" 
bmi  that  k  h»M  k    ,    .^ "  ^^^^  nugratory 

w  uiBBK  nun,  aa  the  nurse  harf     Tt,«c 

had  become  a  symbols  t^\  The  figure  2 

as  the  5  symbolS  the  fi*T!f ^'  J"^* 
ness  which  he  Sov^^^  ,,^*^  '^PP'" 
The  all-powerful  ^ih.  *^  ^  ""other, 

into  haS2  «r,    *°^'*=^P*^'^'"ty^ny 

-bstituS^f^^S^r^^'^ '"*''' 
enough  to  oerstifl^A  tv  ,  *  ^^  easy 

not  ^pSe^.^^J^'^y  .that  he  should 

that  hiV?s?uiht  tu^  ^>  ^  *^"  ^O'J^ 
also  neiii^^^L  ^-  '^°^«'  ''"*  '*  was 
nurse's  5Son^J^  ^''  '"°**'^  ^«^  the 
the  te^er's  clt^„VT?^°°™yf«»' 
couldT^?^'^''^'?-^     ^^«t    until    he 

canie  in  the  Sort  ^    "^  ''°'"^  °'  '^«a«n« 
«e  effort  to  connect  again  with  his 


IN  CHILDHOOD 

instinctive  emotions  the  manifestations  of 
them  which  had  been  split  off. 

"Although  an  instinct  compels  some  fonn 
of  physical  expression,  it  will  accept  a 
lesser  expression  for  a  greater  one.  The 
wolfish  snarl  of  an  animal  showing  its  teeth 
becomes  the  polite  sneer  of  the  cynic, 
through  what  we  call  'a  process  of  physical 
minimization.'  The  blow  of  anger  becomes 
the  clenched  hand.  The  face  of  the  civilized 
man  expresses  emotions  which  woiild  be 
given  expression  in  action  by  the  savage, 
and  our  faces  are  made  more  mobile  by  the 
process.  In  Tommy,  the  sniff  accepted  the 
duty  of  expressing  anger  the  more  readily 
because  in  many  aninuls  the  sniff  serves  to 
denote  angry  disgust. 

"It  was  necessary  to  teach  Tommy  to  say 
to  himself,  '  I'm  jealous  of  my  brother,'  in- 
stead of  sasring,  'I  hate  him.'  It  was  also 
necessary  to  teach  him  not  to  repress  his 
anger,  but  to  vent  it  in  some  innocent  way 
—to  go  into  another  room,  for  instance,  and 
kick  a  chair  instead  of  striking  his  brother. 
Instead  of  sniffing  his  resentment  he  had 
to  be  taught  to  say  to  himself:  'I'm  mad. 
I'm  good  and  mad!'  so  as  to  let  the 
emotion  loose  in  its  proper  channel.  And, 
as  a  matter  of  fact,  he  was  so  young  and 
his  reprcosions  were  so  near  the  surface  that 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 
the  whole  thing  worked  like  nuwic     Ob  M. 

^  J^^''  ^^  °^  automobiles  wu  n5 
tonger  a  phobia.    The  rest  was  in  h".  moT 
er.  hands,  and  she  managed  beautifuUr^ 
T  „^°^ay  T<w»ny  «  a  normal  boy  anin 
I  warned  bs  mother  against  indulji4*wi 
^^°t!l,^"  *°  "^  »  degreTffi  Z 

he  xeems  to  be  growing  up  a  ..atural  little 
»vage,  as  a  boy  should." 
...'"i*'  blocking  and  repressing  of  our  in- 
fant ^?  P^'  ^'''■^^y  '"  ^dhoS^  ^t 

our  companions  undertake  to  educate  and 
mold  us-and  our  rebellious  instScL^ 
accordance  with  the  precepts^?^ 
practices  t^t  we  caU  "civi^*ion."  ^t 
moldmg  ,s  done,  at  present,  blindly.    Wkh- 

-1^0^°''''^^'  °\^'  subcon  Jous  iTd 
-twthout  even  a  realization  that  it  exist^ 
1*e  atteinpt  ,s  made  to  govern  and  dStV 
The  result,  according  to  Doctor  X-sUst  of 
patients,  is  lamentable.  ^s  list  of 

thP?  *^^  examples  of  childish  breakdown 
that  I  have  given  in  this  article  are^gS 
^mens  of  a  faulty  and  thwartedgrS 

tl  T"'"''-^^^'^^  ^y  ^  been  rSSd 

m  the  period  of  infantile  fear.    The  IriS 

loa 


IN  CHILDHOOD 

boy  had  been  kept  in  the  later  period  of 
dependence  on  his  mother.  Tonuny  Arnold 
had  been  repressed  to  the  point  of  phyrical 
ruin.  "All  three,"  says  Doctor  X,  "had 
been  hampered  in  developing  the  instinct 
of  self-assertion,  and  the  int^^rity  of  that 
instinct  is  vitally  necessary  to  the  true 
growth  of  the  mind. 

"I  should  say,"  he  adds,  "that  the  growth 
of  thw  British  Empire  is  ftuidamentally  due 
to  the  English  practice  of  sending  boys  to 
boarding  school  at  an  i  arly  age;  it  has  made 
the  English  adventurous  colonizers.  And 
the  fact  that  the  French  do  not  easily  leave 
the  mother  cotmtry  is  probably  due  to  the 
home-keeping  tendency  of  French  family 
life.  The  children  of  the  poor  are  more 
likely  to  develop  initiative  than  the  over- 
mothered  children  of  the  well-to-do,  for  a 
similar  reason.  A  tyramiical  parent  is  al- 
most certain  to  estabbsh  in  a  child  a  sub- 
c.nscious  sense  of  inferiority  that  will 
depress  his  whole  career.  A  child  whose 
curiosity  has  been  early  discouraged  will 
never  be  a  great  scientist." 

As  an  example  of  how  subtle  these  in- 
fluences on  the  child  can  be,  let  me  cite  the 
case  of  another  of  Doctor  X's  patients.  He 
is  a  promoter,  engaged  in  obtaining  money 
to  finance  industrial  enterprises.  He  had 
103 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 


■M 


come  to  Doctor  Y  ;„ 

Jlluck.  He  compile  tS"^°^  general 
had  a  "deal"  prartSv  whenever  he 
fin^  detail  som?tS'  i^^  ^""^^^'^  *«  the 
interfere  withit  H.  T^.^PP^'^ed  to 
stances  of  the  sort  ""elated   several   in- 

Pos^S?;hftKJytS^f,'^o/ou  thint  it 

that  you  are  in  some  v^?  f*  •*^°'''g  ^his?- 
He  was  sure  t£t  hf  ^^^^*"'8:yom^elf?" 

he  went  awa^he  e^ttTfh  "°*-    ^"*  ^^er 
himself,  and  o^  Ws  "S  ^?^  *°  ^^^«e 
strange  theor,.  to  offer    ''''  ""''*  ''^  ^d  a 
.  He  remembered  that  as  .  u 
SK,  :n  Chicago  he  h^      ■  t  ^^  °^  ^^e  or 
he  was  ve?  'fond     rt™^  ""'^^^  °f -horn 
brought  hinf  a  tenldoSr    ^^   '^''   "°ele 
parents  were  pcT  an  J    ?'^  P'^^e.    His 
his  mother  the^miev  sh^^"'?/"  ^''^^ed 

"tafa-ngcharity.^^'^r^I,-'""'^"'^  ^™  f^"- 
gold  piece,  and  thrS^M  l"^  *Vettmi  the 
™ent  if  he  ever  aSS^     "  '^''^  P""«h- 
"ncle   again.     The    ^^^  ""^^^^  fr^"'  his 
amused  by  his  sSerTtH6e"'""n'T'''^''y 
tease  the  boy  at  ever^  52  Vr,^^  ""^^^  *° 
hmi   take  money,    «';  ?^g  *«  "^e 
^^uggling  it  into\rp3  L"?  ."'■''  •'*• 
h-  misc-hievou^,  injv^^^*;^^.^  ^^^f-g 


IN  CHILDHOOD 

emerged  tritunphant  from  the  conflict,  but 
it  established  an  "inhibition"  apparently. 

"I  find,"  he  said,  "in  all  those  deals  that 
failed,  it  was  /  myself  who  was  at  fault.  I 
was  unable,  some  way,  to  make  the  final 
effort  that  would  have  put  them  across.  I 
fimbled  when  it  came  to  getting  the  money. 
And  now  that  I've  been  thinking  of  it,  I 
see  that  I've  always  had  an  aversion  to 
taking  money.  I've  never  been  able  to 
drive  a  good  bargain.  I  can  do  it  on  paper, 
in  advance,  but  I  can  never  carry  it  out. 
In  some  ways  it  has  been  because  I  felt 
that  I  was  superior  about  money,  i  was 
always  sort  of  lordly  about  it.  I  let  people 
take  advantage  of  me,  even  when  I  knew 
they  were  doing  it.  That  business  with  my 
uncle,  I'm  sure,  was  the  begiiming  of  it." 

"This,  again,  may  seem  very  far-fetched," 
says  Doctor  X.  "My  experience  makes  me 
confident  that  it  is  neither  far-fetched  nor 
improbable.  I  have  a  patient,  a  very  ca- 
pable intellectual  woman,  who  always  suffers 
great  depression  when  she  faces  any  new 
undertaking.  She  has  to  use  a  powerful 
effort  of  will  to  get  herself  started.  I  found 
tha,t  her  father  was  an  eccentric  tyrant  who 
whipped  her,  as  she  says,  for  everjrthing  she 
did  except  playing  with  dolls.  And  she  has 
now  one  hobby  that  furnishes  her  with 
•  los 


11 


endless     ^"^  '^^^^  '''^'^^' 
folkZ^^^^^-^^  *™^s  small  children  in 

^^^ZSZ  r'"^*'.  -h°  has  a  sub- 
^ho  plays  the  p?;^  Ttn^^^i'  °^<^'  ^^ 
I  supposed  thattedLlLf^'^'^^^oes. 
to  his  salaiT     I  f^   J'^  ""  °«Jer  to  add 

"JusKian,  who  ccSdunfi?^"'^  ^^t^er,  a 
,f««t'^.  HewasSS^^"L*  stringed  ^r- 
the  only  p^-^^  his  S^r  °°^  ^^^  ^h^t 
^as  for  playing  the  ntn    -^^  ^^^^  him 

f- t^t  becaus;  he^U?£  t^^^^  -« 

.     ,  You  never  told  n^  '  r^i°  W  me.' 

don't  take  money  for  „,'»  ■  "^^^  ^^^  you 

dances,  after  hS'     ^^^""^  nowadays  at 

\«>' mui;'tL??t;r£^  ^r  *°  -i^^ 

ask  money  for  it '         "^^"^  ^^«  the  heart  to 
f-ce^  they  feel  u^^JJ^S^  ff^^^ed  any 


success  they  freH, '"^^  ^^*  achieved  an"^ 
'n  wstinct  n^.3* -he  satis- 


tl^tisdepr^TsinrT'/^^^^^/  ^^^^^^ 
satisfaction  of  a^  inTtW^!^''  "^  fact,  the 


IN  CHILDHOOD 

hood  the  satisfaction  of  the  instinct  has 
been  marked  as  shameful.    If  every  crude 
attempt  of  the  child  to  be  self-assertive  had 
been  branded  as  something  offensive,  as 
egotistic  'showing  off,'  and  so  orth,  it  will 
foUow  that  any  :dult  triumph  of  the  instinct 
of  self-assertion,  any  conquest  of  opposing 
obstacles,  wiU  be  foDowed  by  an  emotion 
of  gudt  or  shame  that  wiU  be  felt  as  a  de- 
pre^on.    The  early  self-expressions  of  the 
child  rehearse  piacticaUy  all  the  dramatic 
situations   of   later   life.    When   the   later 
action  comades  with  the  early  rehearsal  the 
same  emotions  foUow.    If  these  emotions 
are  conflicting  emotions,  we  get  a  condition 
ot    ambivalency,'  as  we  caU  it.    And  this 
condition  locks  up  more  good  energy  in  man- 
kind than  any  other  one  mental  trouble. 
It  IS  scarcely  imaginable  how  many  useful 
impulses  are  blocked  by  the  necessity  of 
,  carrymg  them  forward  against  a  feeling  of 
depression  which  parents  have  engendered 
years  before  by  branding  natural  childish 
tendenaes  as  'naughty'  or  'ridiculous'  or 
bad.'" 


il 


! 


CHAPTER  V 

W  HAPPINESS  AND  SUCCESS 

"^es  it.  it  is  inert     All  ifl  "'*'"'=* 

duced  at  the  caH  'of  •    .-^  ^^"^  '«  P™- 

satisfactory  ^ply  toffS'fl?"  *'^ 
practice,  that  the  samT^Sg 'is  rSof^^^ 
The  enerrv  whiVh  ^^  11  ^  f  .  °*  "^n. 
««not  KS^  L^,"r^  ^  °^  work 
instinct.  -Se^cc^'^Pl^y;  *°"^=I^  an 
cannot  be  m«^^. '''f '^  ^«  P^^s^e 
trends.  The  h»n?^  ^?°^  instinctive 
cannot  be^vSt TcenT""?^   "I  ^^^ 

lOo 


IN  HAPPINESS  AND  SUCCESS 

winds  during  their  canoe  voyages.  They 
put  in  the  bow  of  the  canoe  a  box  that  has 
holes  in  all  its  tovi  sides.  They  close  the 
holes  on  three  sides  and  leave  open  only  the 
hole  that  faces  the  desired  wind.  Then  they 
attempt  by  means  of  incantations  to  compel 
the  necessary  wind  to  blow  into  the  open 
hole  Since  they  continue  their  incantations 
unti)  the  wind  shifts,  they  have  not  yet 
learned  to  doubt  the  success  of  their  magic. 

"Our  method  of  trying  to  obtain  success- 
ful and  happy  good  habits,  without  in- 
vestigating the  direction  of  our  currents  of 
energy,  is  just  as  primitive  as  the  use  of 
the  Polynesian  wind  box.  And  it  is  less 
successful — ^because  the  currents  of  the  air 
are  variable,  and  a  favorable  wind  will 
arrive  if  you  wait  long  enough.  Whereas 
the  currents  of  instinctive  energy  are  fairly 
constant,  and  there  are  courses  which  you 
will  never  be  able  to  sail  except  by  continual 
tacking." 

This  is  the  conclusion  to  which  he  has 
come  after  working  with  hundreds  of  cases 
of  loss  of  energy,  ineflBdency,  failure,  and  un- 
happiness,  both  in  childhood  and  in  adult  life. 

"  The  energy,"  he  says,  "the  happy  energy 
of  childhood  is  envied  by  us  all.    We  have 
lost  it.    Why?    Wha<;  is  the  origin  and  secret 
of  the  eaergy  of  the  child? 
109 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 

lation  between^  child-^."^?'"*'^^  «" 
actions.    The  cWM  «l^fl  '"'>*=*-'  ^^  h« 

"eeds  without  thirH?  ""'  "^*'"^^-« 
stinctive   oleasur^r)       ^  ^"J°ys  ^s  in- 

of  his  instinctive  ^;.-  "^P*"^^^  none 
stinctiveena^flLT?*"?"^-.  ^  ^s  in- 
intheaniW^Smfn'f^^  ^*°  ^'^t'on,  as 
It  goesTS'goi'S  £?r  "°«>«^- 
Its  resources  So  ^^  ^  ^V''  P°^«-  of  aU 
"T  fin/i  •  ^*n  the  child 

the  ad^t  Xe^'S  • ""'  *^^  «>«^  o^ 
of  the  child.  Ser  "t"^  ""  ^^^  ^«^ 
mental  energy  JtTSflU  /'  P^^^^^al  or 
trends.  It^Kf^?^.^°"S  instinctive 
fleeted,  or  'Si^tS*^?'  *''^^'^«^'  d- 
eonscious  mind  bS  it 'J  '^\'^y'  ^^  the 
released  ^^^  '^by  JheT*  ^  °"^^'y 
mstinot."  ^   *"^  operation   of  an 

and  success.  SuiLde/.°°''  °^  ^^PP^^^ 
^d  go  ahead?  ^tt  miXl""^  ^"^^''^^t^ 
'^'e  were  all  living  in  a  sS  of  F^""'^^'  ^ 
^e  are  not.  oL  whS  J^  -r^**^^-  ^"^ 
conspiracy  aga&S  S!^  "^h^tion  is  a 
stincts,  to  chSL^r^,°^  ""^  ^°  in- 
«ence.  Moriver  d5i?!^?^''?  ^^^^  ^ndul- 
civilization  Itself  is  largely 


IN  HAPPINESS  AND  SUCCESS 

the  product  of  our  herd  instinct,  and  the 
conflict  between  the  desires  of  the  individual 
and  the  demands  of  society  is  a  conflict  that 
is  paralleled  in  man  himself  by  a  conflict 
between  his  ego  instincts  and  his  herd 
instinct.  Hence  Doctor  X's  dictum,  "Suc- 
cess and  happiness  lie  in  the  complete 
expression  of  self,  transmuted  into  social 
values." 

To  drop  theory  and  come  to  cases,  let 
us  take  the  instinct  of  self-assertion.  It  is 
one  of  the  strongest  of  the  animal  instincts. 
It  is  one  of  the  strongest  of  the  child's  in- 
stincts— and  of  the  man's.  And  it  is  a  much 
discouraged  instinct  in  our  social  IKe,  in 
spite  of  the  fact  that  it  is  the  very  backbone 
of  character  and  the  motive  power  of 
success.  What  are  we  to  do  with  it?  How 
are  we  to  handle  it  so  as  to  obtain  a  pros- 
perous and  happy  issue  of  its  unconsdotis 
and  compulsive  power? 

Consider  it  in  the  child.  It  begins  to 
assert  itself  offensively  as  soon  as  he  has 
learned  to  walk.  He  is  a  selfish  little  ^oist. 
He  will  not,  for  example,  share  his  candy 
with  his  sister.  What  does  his  mother  do? 
She  probably  tells  him  that  selfishness  is  a 
sin,  that  God  will  punish  him  for  it.  And  by 
so  doing  she  may  begin  in  the  mind  of  the 
child — partictdarly  if  the  child  is  a  girl — 


I."  ■  'i 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 
OM  of  those  reliirioua  *«««;-*   ^ 
scious  Ideals 3iStw?^>*'^  "n- 
^  end  by  Wi^^"T.,™P^ses  that 

of  a  i;:^  J  ^^^-iP^^  the  gxx^wth 

-^t-St^S".*"^  <=M«^  for 

«=ont«"y  ii^stinct  ofsSXil"^^  "P  the 
press  the  self-assStiS^^  ^^*  *°  «»P- 
fneet  and  fight  Wonp'.^^  *^"  do^s 

«ve  it  from  d^tSS     if  ^'^"^  to 
cowers,    cringes,  ^'^J.   ^t  surrenders, 
humbled  attitude, Tith^'   ^"'^V-    «   a 
pressure  and  a  do»  „  ,  *  ^"^^^  Wood 
?fterwa«i  the  LqulT'fn'  '"'^  ^^»«^ 
"^stinct   autoWiSu?^^P?"  ^^^  ^e 
PVsicalchange^S^^.!^^*!    the    same 
saves  it  from^meZTlS.^'^^S^^^  ^ 
^°^  ^PeratTr'thT^J^d     ^*  '"^'h- 
panying  emotion  is  X  f   r     ^*'  *«=«»- 
Ite  perfect  product  is  th/^"^  °^  ^^ame. 

His  instinct  of  iif      ^"^^  ^^ild. 

blockedlffis  age<?l"Z::*'°°   «   wholly 

obtained.    HistSertTT  ^  ^ 

^^P^bly  obedieS^^H       ^"'^^-    ^e  is 

Pride  to  his  pStf  jf.^*  «"^  of 

^^^  and  unhSness^n  /'.  '^^f'""^  ^ 

'"U  always  be  a  tow^w  ^*?  "^«'-    He 

-tboHty.andh?S^^^,^-of 


IN  HAPPINESS  AND  SUCCESS 

and  hate  his  employer.  And  he  will  almost 
invariably  repeat  upon  his  children  the 
mistakes  which  his  parents  made  with  him. 

"It  is  scarcely  ever  necessary  to  encourage 
this  instinct  of  self-abasement  in  a  child," 
Doctor  X  advises,  "and  I  should  say  that 
the  average  child  never  needs  physical 
punishment.  The  loss  of  the  motht/'s  love 
is  enough  to  threaten.  Any  child  will  ttll 
you  that  it  dreads  the  mother's  anger  more 
than  blows.  By  appealing  to  its  instinct  of 
affection  any  parent  can  deflect  a  child's  self- 
assertiveness  into  acceptable  channels  and 
stabilize  it  there  by  rewarding  all  efforts  to 
win  approval.  In  later  years  the  mother's 
approval  will  be  replaced  by  self-approval, 
society's  approval,  the  approval  of  the  herd. 
Tie  instinct  of  self-assertion  will  have  been 
successfully  'sublimated';  and  the  child  will 
become  a  useful  and  happy  citizen,  public- 
spirited  and  publicly  approved." 

The  instinct  of  self-assertion  in  a  child, 
then,  is  not  to  be  branded  as  a  sin  or  punished 
as  a  crime.  It  is  to  Le  deflected  into  social 
values  by  approval.  And  that  is  exactly 
what  has  to  be  done  by  the  adult  in  his  own 
case.  He  must  recognize  that  his  instinct 
of  selfishness  is  not  sinful,  and  it  is  not 
criminal.  It  is  an  unconscious  and  com- 
pulsive instinct  which  he  must  accept  and 
"3 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 

and  successfully  ^^^^^y"«>  happily 

study  of  the  subcon^^       ^.^^°  "^^'^h  the 
for  the  V^eriSn^,^  "^^^  ^  P«I»ring 
And  it  wTrS  S^^T-\  ^"^  ^^^ 
who  gave  i?  SS  S  ]S:°^T  ^°^  *>^«» 
"So  Uve  that  ^  ^JT Ju^"^  °'  "'"duct: 
^^e  and  tell  ff  ^^^^  ^  ^l"^  *^ 
trying  to  look  his  oto  h^^  •'  .-^^  ^'^ 
own  need  of  herf  «^        ,    "^^tinct-his 
and  tell  it  to  go  to  hT°'T'T°  *^«  «y«. 
is  that  if  yoTsSccii^if^^^^  ^^  *~"We 
-^^cts  I  ^SH^J^^^^^^f^of  your 

inyoS/^k^Jt^r^^fl^-isertion 

others?  WheS:;t^oS£>if?'^ '^ '° 
equals  meet  for  the  firc^t-  ^mencan 
consciously  coSroS  .S^*  .*r*  ^'^'^^  ^ub- 

self-assertion  ofSi  ^Sr  ^  "i^'^^^^*  ^^ 
in  his  ego.  TVo^SnS  "^.^^'^  «~wling 
other's  th«aS^°an7SrS'  '^  t*  ^^ 

superiority  at  once     Sm^v       ^"^*'°°  °f 
J'       once.  ^Primitive  man  used  to 


IN  HAPPINESS  AND  SUCCESS 

do  the  same  thing.  In  ctvilized  aociety, 
the  usages  of  courtesy  and  politeness  compel 
the  men  to  suppress  the  expression  of  their 
bridling  self-assertivenrss,  to  shake  hands 
and  affect  friendship.  But  their  subcon- 
scious minds  shake  hands  as  two  prize 
fighters  do  in  the  ring.  The  battle  between 
them  proceeds  nevertheless.  One  of  them 
perhaps  follows  the  good  American  custom 
of  bluffing,  meets  with  obstinacy  or  negation, 
and  takes  away  a  rancor  that  is  due  to  his 
own  bafSed  instinct.  Or  he  is  himself 
bluffed  and  feels  a  sore  antagonism  under 
his  asstmied  deference,  and  carries  away  a 
craving  for  revenge.  In  either  case  the 
anger  which  he  feels  against  the  other  man 
is  in  reality  his  anger  at  his  own  failure  to 
dominate.  And  all  this  anger  is  lost  motion, 
instinctive  energy  wasted,  effort  out  of  place. 
The  wise  man  will  recognize  the  futility  of 
such  instinctive  nonsense  between  modem 
equals. 

If  you  are  wise,  then,  you  will  meet  your 
fellow  man,  knowing  that  he  is  a  self -machine 
whose  sparks  are  no  concern  of  yours,  and 
willing  to  gi'ant  him  the  fullest  self-assertion 
that  is  compatible  with  the  rights  of  others. 
The  man  whom  you  so  meet  will  feel  no 
obstacle  to  his  self-assertion  and  he  may  be 
arrogant  or  he  may  not.     The  chances  are 

:    5 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 

■miable  ftdiaTuJT.i     >^  w^*  an 
miad  towS7ou  P'"*°*  *~»«  <^ 

«fve  your  own  iatLtit^^L  .  t^°"  ^  P™- 

afther  with  h^^yo^neS  J2'"'"'  *°  «° 
interest   in   anvtf,fn^    v    ..^  **?»*«  an 

'eaUy  a  paiTrf  i^   "^^   ^    «»t   is 

seIf-iL«»ti^ess  Jri.Si^P/r^°°-    His 
you  as  an  asset     wT,  ™"«*«tely  embrace 

'^  meet  ^on  ^?°??^  ^«°  ^^^ 
■^doffiS^y^^fn^jfness.    In- 

t-peration  may  soon  A™^  ^^'  *''«'  «>- 
And  wheth^LTwfcnT  ^^''"'^P" 
much  happier  a^d  J!^  ^  °°*'  y^"  wiU  be 
«^  if  yS  haJ^i"^  "^"^y^  with  him 
to  stamjedelou  i^n^'^J'""'^  ^'"c* 

and  foug^ourth'titirS*  "^*^.  ^ 
•f ''een  you.  prinStiS  ^S.'^P^^^ty 

stmct  molded  SSLd^""  *"  ^  ^- 


IN  HAPPINESS  AND  SUCCESS 

busben  magnates  and  the  Napoleons  of 
Wan  Street,  who  are  often  mere  cave  men 
in  their  desire  to  dominate.  They  destroy 
themselves  and  the  property  that  is  in  their 
control  unreasonably,  unintelligently,  under 
an  instinctive  impuke  to  down  a  conflicting 
ego.  Half  the  quarrels  within  a  poliiical 
party  have  the  same  origin.  A  recent 
Speaker  of  the  House  in  Washington  publicly 
confessed,  wit'i  instinctive  pride,  that  during 
his  first  term  as  Congressman  he  had  voted 
and  worked  always  in  opposition  to  every 
measure  introduced  by  a  certain  member- 
whether  the  bill  was  good  or  bad — because 
that  member  had  crossed  him  in  an  am- 
bition. The  struggles  between  capital  and 
labor,  between  the  employer  and  the  em- 
ployee, have  often  this  instinctive  origin  as 
an  economic  basis. 

TTie  wise  employer,  recognizing  the  ego 
instinct  in  his  employees,  tries  to  enlist  that 
instinct  in  his  own  service.  He  gets  up 
efficiency  contests  and  selling  competitions 
which  he  rewards  with  prizes  or  promotions. 
He  devises  ways  in  wWch  to  make  the 
success  of  the  business  add  to  the  success 
of  the  workmen,  by  profit-sharing  and  bonus 
pajrments.  He  persuades  the  employees  to 
buy  stock  in  the  corporation.  Or,  as  in 
England  recently,  he  lets  the  workmen  elect 
"7 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 


a  representative  to  the  boani  r.f  u    ■ 
"management,  and  divwls  V^        ^"'""^ 
with  them  a£t^thJ-T^  ^  ^'^^  Profits 

his  service  the  ego^instS^  tJf  ?°f  ^^  ^ 
self-assertion  thJ^  '°?^'n«.  the  mstmct  of 

W?SK?ihe 'M     ^^*'^?  ^°'*^°*=t  of  Ws  men. 
T^ri!!  ,      <^«°ocratization  of  industrv  " 

JtheviS?hS'iS-:£t"'  to  run  if 

^y^n^o-^tSfK"-^^^ 

s^e-rth^-t^ir^^- 

mutter  that  thS^wantlL.^"  *^°*'""«  *« 

way  to  Lti3^rtff°^'^^°"^^^^d«o'ne 
ployees  a^K.,       •"^*"'*=*  »  y°^  em- 

If  you  are  an  employee    at  wnrV  • 


IN  HAPPINESS  ANO  SUCCESS: 

happened  to  put  him  in  a  fuiy  of  it-dij^nation, 
and  every  day  his  impulse  of  revolt  was 
blocked  by  the  dead  wall  of  fear.  If  he 
angered  his  boss,  what  about  his  job,  his 
wife,  his  children,  his  old  age? 

"He  had  to  swallow  his  wrath.    It  proved 
indigestible.   He  came  to  me  to  be  treated  for 
indigestion.    He  was  cured  by  a  magic  device 
which  you  might  caU  'the  king  in  disguise.' 
We  started  with  the  assumption  that, 
smce  he  had  to  work  for  an  employer,  he 
was  a  slave.    We  agreed,  next,  that  it  was 
m  the  nature  of  taskmasters  to  be  cruel. 
He  was  a  humble  slave,  serving  a  cruel  task- 
master.   Good.    As   an   honest    slave,    he 
would  do  an  honest  day's  work  for  his  day's 
wages,  put  the  money  in  his  pocket  and  go 
home.    But  there,  he  could  throw  off  the 
hvery    of    slavery.      With    Ws    wife    and 
children,  in  his  own  home,  among  his  friends, 
dispensing  the  fruits  of  his  toil,  he  could  be 
a  king.     That  was  his  real  life.    There  was 
his  true  happiness. 

"And  then  when  he  returned  to  his  work, 
why  not  go  as  a  king  in  disguise?  Why  not 
accept  the  terms  of  his  slavery  as  a  disguised 
king  would,  submitting  to  them  amusedly 
until  he  could  drop  the  livery  at  the  day's 
end  and  return  to  his  kingdom? 
"Why  not,  indeed!  He  tried  it,  and  it 
119 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 
^ J^  indigestion.  The  boss  cannot 
^l^i?"u°°''-  H«  has  escaped  fxom  the 
^tTi-T^''^^''^-  He  is  no  longer 
tom^  conflicting  and  futile  emotions.  His 
blocked  mstinct  has  been  deflected,  and  he 
IS  happiCT  and  more  successful  both  in  his 
home  and  his  work." 

There  is  a  lesson  here  that  goes  beyond 
tL^  T  ^^^-     ^"  Americans  put  o^- 
selves   mto   our   work  more   than   foreign 
peoples.    A^  we  are  more  successful  than 
they  yes     But  we  are  not  so  happy.    Why? 
X  "tw  T'^^  ™y  patients,"  says  Doctor 
A     that  the  secret  of  happiness  lies  in  the 
phi^e,  'Somebody  cares. '"^Success  in  yo^ 
work  may  depend  on  the  energy  that  is 
^^ed  under  the  instinct  of  selfass^L " 
But  happme^  depends  much  more  on  the 
satisfaction  of  the  instinct  of  affection     I 
do  not  believe  that  there  can  be  any  happi- 
ness where  this  instinct  is  frustrated,  nw- 
any  amplete  unhappiness  where  it  is  satis- 
fied    No  failure  in  life  is  hopeless  without 
a  failure  m  love.    And  no  man  or  woman, 

Sk'?^  .^^^"^^.'  "^^^^^^  «"^«<ie  ""less 
this  instinct  despairs.  The  failure  to  obtain 
love  IS  the  greatest  tragedy  of  childhood, 
and  the  common  'death  wish'  of  the  child 

f^l  X  *,v  "^^  ^"^^^  subconsSS 
fear  in  adult  hf e  is  a  f ear  of  the  loss  of  love 

I30 


IN  HAPPINESS  AND  SUCCESS 

that  is  greater  than  the  fear  of  death;  and 
the  fear  of  death  is  often  a  substitute  for 
it.  The  weakest  personality  can  obtain 
happiness  in  an  atmosphere  of  love.  The 
strongest  and  most  successful  fails  of  happi- 
ness if  he  fails  of  love. 

"  The  happy  boy  goes  out  to  his  playmates 
with  a  sense  of  self-approval  that  is  founded 
on  his  mother's  approbation  of  him.  So  the 
happy  man  goes  to  his  work  secure  in  the 
approval  of  the  woman  who  has  replaced 
the  image  of  his  mother  in  his  instinctive 
mind.  Outside  the  home,  both  the  boy  and 
the  man  find  themselves  under  the  com- 
pulsion of  another  instinct— the  herd  in- 
stinct—and in  need  of  herd  approval.  The 
satisfaction  of  that  instinct  is  a  powerful 
factor  in  adult  happiness,  but  the  boy  who 
suffers  under  the  disapprobation  of  his 
'gang'  can  find  some  escape  in  his  mother's 
ajpprobation;  whereas,  without  her  approba- 
tion, the  gang  leader  himself,  the  hero  of 
the  playground,  will  not  be  happy.  And  the 
same  is  true  of  the  man. 

"Above  all  things  we  need  to  be  taught 
that  in  order  to  be  happy  we  must  love  and 
be  loved.  But  we  need  to  be  taught,  also, 
the  terms  which  love  insists  on  making  in 
the  instinctive  mind.  The  first  love  of  our 
life,  the  child's  love  for  its  mother,  like  all 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 
true  love,  has  a  double  craving:  it  seeks 
protection,  and  it  desires  to  give  protection. 
The  youngest  child,  snuggling  in  its  mother's 
anns,   wiU  ward   oflf  a  pretended  attack 
upcm  hCT,  and  this  protective  attitude  is 
basic  and  compulsive  in  the  instinct.    No 
love  in  adult  life  can  be  happy  if  it  does  not 
permit  the  protective  desire  to  have  its 
proper    expression.    That    is   one    of   the 
tragedies  of  illicit  love-the  man  or  the 
woman  m  a  liaison  finds  the  protective  im- 
pulse of  the  instinctive  mind  frustrated  by 
guilty  circumstances,   and  the  frustration 
means    misery.    Moreover,    illicit   love   is 
COTimonly  just  sexual  gratification,  and  the 
subconscious   mind   carries   an   instinctive 
horror  of  sex  for  the  sake  of  sex '  that  is  one 
oi  Its  strongest  taboos.    It  is  instinctive  for 
a  man  to  hate  the  woman  who  is  his  part- 
ner m  a  purely  sexual  indulgence.    And  a 
woman  s  sex  love  even  for  her  husband  will 
^e  in  her  subconscious  mind  if  she  finds 
that  he  does  not  'care'  for  her  in  the  sense 
of  feeling  a  protective  impulse  for  her. 

In  other  ways,  too,  the  instinctive  mind 
m  love  IS  like  the  child  mind.  The  child 
registers  aU  criticism  as  dislike,  and  it  is  the 
wise  husband  or  wife  who  refrains  from 
criticism  m  affection.  The  critic  on  the 
tiearth  is  a  persistent  enemy  of  married 


IN  HAPPINESS  AND  SUCCESS 

happiness.  The  praise  of  our  loved  ones  is 
as  necessary  to  instinctive  happiness  as  the 
approval  of  our  mother  was,  and  their  dis- 
approval is  as  disastrous. 

"A  child  always  remembers  who  gave  it 
a  gift.  The  tangible  evidence  of  love  is  of 
enormous  value  to  it.  That  peculiarity  of 
the  mstinctive  mind  persists.  Gifts  in  affec- 
tion are  more  winning  than  words.  Most 
potent  of  all  are  protective  actions.  The 
man  who  criticizes  or  humiliates  or  makes 
fun  of  his  wife,  particularly  before  others,  is 
destroying  her  love  and  his  happiness  at 
their  foundation.  Her  conscious  mind  may 
forgive  him:  her  unconscious  mind  will  not. 

"To  the  instinctive  mind,  I  find,  neither 
sex  love  nor  marriage  is  a  goal.  The  real 
goal  is  happiness  in  a  home  founded  on 
protective  love  for  another  and  resonant 
with  the  voices  of  children— for  nature's 
goal  is  the  creation  of  the  child.  Woven 
through  the  whole  fabric  of  love  runs  a 
secret  thread  that  is  little  understood— the 
craving  for  a  child  that  shall  be  a  reincarna- 
tion of  self,  a  breath  of  eternity  made  real. 
The  social  taboo  prevents  a  young  girl  from 
dreaming  aloud  about  children,  but  all  her 
adolescent  day  dreams  of  her  hero  are  sub- 
consciously connected  with  the  thought  of 
a  created  life  whose  presence  in  her  arms 
"3 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 

ahall  be  the  proof  of  the  perfection  of  her 
wonianhood.  There  is  happiness  in  the 
satisfaction  of  that  instinct  and  unhappinesF 
in  its  frustration.  The  same  thing  is  true, 
in  a  lesser  degree,  of  the  man.  And  he 
comes,  through  love  of  his  children,  to  the 
great  love  of  Christ,  the  love  for  all  men." 

All  this  does  not  mean  that  instinct  is  a 
better  guide  through  life  than  intelligence. 
It  means  only  that  instinct  is  the  power 
plant  which  intelligence  must  utilize.  "The 
situation,"  says  Doctor  X,  "is  something 
like  the  relation  between  the  sailing  master 
of  a  ship  and  the  pilot.    The  most  skillful 
pilot  is  helpless  if  he  has  empty  sails,  just  as 
the    most    exquisite    intellectual    precision 
without   energy   is   hopeless  apathy.    The 
most   energetic   sailing   master   without   a 
hehnsman  or  a  hehn  is  as  helpless  as  the 
helmsman  without  the  sailing  master,  though 
more  destructive— just  as  instinctive  energy 
without  judgment  is  destructive.    But  no 
progress  is  possible  dead  against  the  wind, 
and  no  will  power  can  make  it  possible. 
Will  can  only  choose  the  port.    Intellect  can 
only  diart  the  course,  taking  into  account 
the  winds  that  prevail.    Those  winds  are 
the  currents  of  instinctive  energy  which  we 
must  understand  and  utilize  if  we  are  to 
make  a  successful  and  happy  voyage." 

134 


IN  HAPPINESS  AND  SUCCESS 

As  it  is,  our  education  and  our  psychology 
talk  about  improving  will  power  and  ap- 
plication as  you  might  talk  about  improving 
the  will  power  and  application  of  a  hunting 
dog,  instead  of  merely  showing  him  the 
fox  and  rewarding  him  for  catching  it.  And, 
at  the  same  time,  while  we  are  talking  about 
improving  the  dog  as  a  hunter,  we  are 
beating  him  every  time  his  instinct  starts 
him  on  a  chase.  And  then  we  complain  of 
his  apathy  and  lack  of  energy  when  be  has 
been  so  beaten  that  the  sight  of  game  acts 
as  a  symbol  of  disgrace  to  him  and  he  lies 
down  cowed. 

"Almost  every  instinctive  emotion  of 
man,"  says  Doctor  X,  "has  been  blocked 
by  the  moralistic  teaching  that  his  instincts 
are  base  animal  instincts,  that  he  is  a  divine 
mind  in  a  base  animal  body,  that  he  must 
repress  his  'lower  impulses'  or  they  will 
drag  him  down.  It  is  as  if  the  moralist 
argued:  'Horses  are  wild  animals;  wild 
animals  are  dangerous  animals;  dangerous 
animals  should  be  destroyed ;  therefore  horses 
should  not  be  domesticated.'  That  is  to 
say:  'Our  instincts  are  animal  instincts; 
animal  instincts  are  dangerous;  therefore 
t'ley  should  be  repressed,  not  socialized — 
destroyed,  not  domesticated." 

The  Puritans  followed  this  logic,  and  it 
"S 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 

made  Puritanism  an  evil  thing  and  marked 

2S;  3.^  ^^««^  a  war  of  extermination 
fnS.  ^^  l"'"^^*  ^«°<rts.  and  the 
nstmctswon.  In  the  cour^  of  thkt  struggle 
the  Puntan  saw  his  revolting  instincte  as 
the  devil  m  him.  and  he  bum^  them  in  the 
^ucmated  fonn  of  witches.    STLw  his 

^tM  father,  repressing  his  children;  and 

tabh^ed  American  Church.  It  makes  a 
faith  that  holds  the  women  more  eaStyJLn 
tfie  men,   because  the  father  in^e  f^J 

rSw  •  ^^  ^'^  '^^^"^  ^1  include 
a  mother  image,   too,   and  appeal   to  the 

str^est  instinctive  affection  of^iLr 
tha?  m2^  ^?  inheritance  is  an  influence 

ideal.!  tw'  ^  *°  ^^®  '^y  conscious 

Ideals  that  are  continually  defeated  by  re- 

P^unconsdous  impulses.  0,^S% 
becomes  not  a  thing  of  hieh  serpnitv  w 
perpetual  conflict.  Ve  fS  S  le'  aglin 
and  stui^ble  and  blunder  on.  WeSStE 
battle  with  only  one  hand  free,  hoSg  Sth 
the  other  our  "baser  selves"  i^  leash  ^S 
It  any  wonder,"  asks  Doctor  X,^at  we 

136 


IN  HAPPINESS  AND  SUCCESS 

have  so  Kttle  strength  to  climb  the  heights? 
ur  that  we  have  conscant  reason  to  com- 
plain  of  lack  of  energy?  Or  that  so  few  of 
us  ever  attain,  ever  momentarily,  that  peace 
and  comfort  of  mind  and  body  which  is 
happmess?" 

These  repressions,  that  make  for  loss  of 
ener^f,    unhappiness,    inefficiency,    and    ill 
health,  have  one  definite  mental  effect  that 
is  worth  remarking  separately— their  effect 
on  memory.    The  study  of  the  subconscious 
mind  has  shown  that  what  we  ordinarily 
ca^l  our  memory  is  really  a  "forgetteiy  " 
The    subconscious    mind    has    a    complete 
record  of  all  our  past,  and  that  record  can 
be  reached  m  dreams,  or  under  hypnosis,  or 
m  delmum.    If  there  were  such  a  record 
always  crowding  into  our  conscious  minds 
we  should  be  so  bewildered  by  the  con- 
sciousness of  the  past  that  we  would  be 
unable  to  focus  our  attention  on  the  more 
important  present.    Therefore,  the  two  are 
separated  by  a  barrier  in  which  there  is  a 
door,  and  on  that  door  is  a  guard  whom  we 
caU  memory.    When  we  want  anything  out 
of  our  past  we  call  for  it,  and  memory 
summons   it   from   the   inner   room.    His 
busmess  is  to  keep  it  out  till  we  call  for  it, 
and  to  hurry  it  in  to  us  as  soon  as  we  wish 
It  recalled. 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 

But  when  we  conwaously  repress  a  thing 
fHMn  our  thoughts  we  give  another  guard 
an  order  never  to  admit  the  matter  to  our 
consaousness  again.    And  he  obeys  us,  as 
long  as  we  are  conscious.    And  he  not  only 
keeps  out  the  repressed  matter,  but  he  keeps 
out  any«ung  connected  with  it  that  might 
dmgitback.    He  keeps  out  aU  associated 
matters,  aU  things  incidental  to  it  in  time 
or  pUce,  all  like  things.    And  when  a  number 
of  these  repressions  are  involved  the  con- 
sequent  impairment   of  memory   is   very 
great,    ance'a  good  memory  is  invaluable 
to  the  efficiency  of  the  conscious  mind,  re- 
prMsions  injure  that  efficiency  enormously 
m  the  field  of  memory  alone.    In  that  way 
repressions  definitely  impair  success,  as  in 
other  ways  they  definitely  impair  happiness 


CHAPTER  VI 


Of    TBBODORB    ROOSEVELT 

NOW,  if  Doctor  X  is  correct  in  thoe 
theories  of  the  influence  of  the  in- 
stinctive mind  upon  happiness  and  success, 
it  shotdd  be  possible  to  apply  his  dicta 
illuminatingly  in  the  analysis  of  such  a 
happy  and  successful  man  as  Theodore 
Roosevelt,  for  example.  They  should  satis- 
factorily explain  Roosevelt's  character,  his 
conduct,  his  opinions,  his  beliefs,  his  happi- 
ness or  his  unhappiness,  his  success  or  his 
failure.  They  should  offer  a  solution  to  the 
problem  of  his  inconsistencies.  They  should 
generally  "pluck  out  the  heart  of  his 
mystery." 

This  is  a  large  order.  The  documents 
that  might  be  consulted  are  innumerable 
and  they  are  contradictory.  In  order  to 
avoid  controversy— and  to  limit  the  field 
of  survey— let  us  take  only  what  he  tells 
about  himself,  consciously  or  unconsciovtsly, 
in  his  autobiography. 

"I  was  a  sickly,  delicate  boy,"  he  says, 
139 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 

"suffePBd  much  from  asthma,  and  frequeotly 
had  to  be  taken  away  on  trips  to  find  a 
place  where  I  could  breathe.  One  of  my 
memones  is  of  my  father  walking  up  and 
down  the  room  with  me  in  his  arms  at  night 
when  I  was  a  very  small  person,  and  of 
sittmg  up  in  bed  gasping,  with  my  father 
and  mother  trying  to  help  me." 

Says  Doctor  X :  "Asthma  is  easily  chief 
of  aU  the  bodily  afflictions  that  cause  a  loss 
of  hope  in  the  child  and  his  surrender  to 
despair.     The  fear  of  suffocating  is  the  first 

*uM /"?**  ^°'^"*  ^^^  °'  ^^^-  ""»«  newborn 
child,  before  its  lungs  are  working,  enters 
upon  a  struggle  against  death  by  suffocation 
and  escapes  by  a  margin  of  only  a  few 
minutes.  The  horrors  of  smothering  are 
thereby  deeply  imprinted  on  the  subcon- 
scious mmd  as  the  very  type  and  pattern  of 
a  death  struggle.  And  from  that  time  on 
any  difficulty  in  breathing  is  the  panic 
agnal  for  all  the  instinctive  forces  of  life 
to  rally  in  defense  of  the  organism. 

"In  an  asthmatic  child,  therefore,  the 
onanism  is  on  the  defensive,  inevitably. 
The  subconscious  mind  is  also  fearful  and 
on  the  defensive.  If  the  instinctive  energies 
are  weak,  the  child  may  easily  succumb  to 
a  subconscious  conviction  of  inferiority  from 
which  he  will   never  recover.    The  same 

'3° 


IN  THEODORE  ROOSEVELT 

result  will  etuiue  i£  the  drcumstances  of  his 
life,  and  particularly  the  attitude  of  his 
paroits,  add  to  the  opposition  which  his 
ego  instincts  have  to  fight.  But  whether  he 
succumbs  or  not,  all  the  trends  of  his  in- 
stinctive mind  will  be  conditioned  by  fear 
and  a  subconscious  posture  of  self-defense — 
even  though  the  posture  may  become  one 
of  defiance  of  fear  and  insistence  upon 
aggressive  fearlessness,  as  it  became  appar- 
ently with  Roosevelt." 

We  do  not  know  how  strong  was  the  life 
current  of  Roosevelt's  energy  in  his  infancy, 
but  we  do  know  that  his  parents  did  not 
depress  it.  That  picture  of  their  "trying 
to  help"  him  to  breathe  is  typical  of  their 
aid  and  encouragement  throughout  his  child- 
hood. They  were  a  wise  and  kindly  and 
just  and  loving  mother  and  father.  Every 
line  of  his  early  recollections  proves  it.  And 
from  the  moment  that  we  see  the  father 
carrying  the  gasping  child  up  and  down  the 
njom  at  night — ^his  strong  arms  giving  the 
frightened  infant  his  only  comforting  support 
against  the  menace  of  suffocation — Roose- 
velt's autobiography  testifies  to  the  care  and 
kindliness  of  the  father  and  to  his  influence 
on  the  formation  of  the  boy's  character,  his 
aspirations,  his  ideals  of  conduct,  and  the 
pleasure  patterns  of  his  instinctive  mind. 
131 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 

idleness,  cowardice,  cm-  untruthfulneT^  ^' 
He  never  physicaUy  punished  me  but  cmce' 

reauy  afraid.    I  do  not  mean  that  it  was  a 

^dren  adomi  him He  wasTb? 

W^i^.r^*^  *  ^^'^^  face  and  Ws 
needed  help  or  protection,  and  with  the 
possib^ty  of  much  wi^th  against  a  btSy 

^tZ  ?/T^ ^'°^  knowing  my 

father  I  felt  a  great  admiration  for  men  ^o 

r^/r^M  ^^  7^°  ''^^  hold  tSS; 

Doctor  X  comments:  "Among  animals 
the  young  always  imitate  the  p^iTSd 
the  parent  wiU  spend  hours  pSL^ts 
young  m  the  imitation.  It  isT^SS 
furnished  the  inapulse  to  an  animafSSt 

1^^^;  ^t  we  caU  heredityin  S 
se^  to  be  largely  due  to  this  unconscio^ 
impulse  to  imitate  those  eldere  whom  w^ 
love.    A  child  at  play  wiU  'make  Sev^ 

I3» 


IN  THEODORE  ROOSEVELT 

that  he  is  the  parent,  imitate  the  parent's 
actions,  and  'identify'  himself  with  his 
model.  But  the  identification  is  largely  sub- 
consaous.  A  parent  who  admonishes  wisely 
but  acts  fooUshly  will  be  imitated  in  action 
but  not  f  oUowed  in  precept— which  explains 
why  many  mothers  have  difficulty  training 
a  boy  to  conventional  actions  by  precept 
while  the  hero-father  acts  as  unconven- 
tionally as  he  pleases.  Precept  has  ahnost  no 
force  m  character  formation.  Imitation  is 
all-powerful." 

Roosevelt,  then,  had  as  his  hero  and  model 
for  imitation  a  big,  powerful,  fearless  father 
whom  he  adored  and  desired  to  be  like. 
But  the  child  being  subconsciously  on  the 
defensive,  his  ambition  of  fearlessness  ex- 
pressed Itself  as  an  ideal  of  holding  his  own 
m  the  world,  which  is  a  defensive  ideal. 
And  even  this  wish  met  with  ahnost  in- 
superable difficulties  in  the  shape  of  a  weak 
body. 

Not  only  was  he  sickly  and  asthmatic, 
but  he  had  very  poor  eyesight— "so  that  the 
only  thuigs  I  could  study  were  those  I  ran 
agamst  or  stumbled  over."  He  did  not  get 
^ectacles  until  he  was  thirteen  years  old. 
I  had  no  idea  how  beautiful  the  world 
WM,"  he  says,  "until  I  got  those  spectacles. 
I  had  been  a  clumsy  and  awkward  little 
133 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 
boy,  and  while  much  of  my  clmnsiness  and 
awkwardness  was  doubtless  due  to  general 

to  the  fact  that  I  could  not  see  and  yet  was 
wholly  Ignorant  of  the  fact  that  I  was  not 
IT^*^",,  ^.^ha'^dicapped,  Roosevelt  did 
what  all  children  do  when  the  facts  of  life 
are  too  strong  to  allow  them  to  realize  their 
J!^w-w^*^"^*y-  H«  '•e^ed  it  in  fancy 
Untd  I  was  fourteen,"  he  says,  "I  let  this 
th^"l.  &  be  fearless  and  hold  his  own  in 

itr£^2^-  °°  "^^^  '^^  ^^^^ 

His  entrance  into  the  world  of  fancy  was 
naade  through  two  doors-through  stories 
that   his   mother   told   him,   and   through 
adventure   books   such   as   Mayne  Reid^ 
His  mother,  he  writes,  "used  to  entertain 
us  by  the  hour,  with  tales  of  life  on  the 
l-eorgia  plantations;  of  hunting  fox,  deer, 
and    wildcat;   of    the    long-tailed   driving 
horses,  Boone  and   Crockett,  and  of  the 
ndmg   horses    one   of   which   was   named 
Buena  Vista."    Observe  the  interest  that 
he  must  have  had  in  these  stories  to  re- 
member the  names  of  the  horees.    He  speaks 
agam  of  "hearing  of  the  feats  performed^ 
fy    ^^ithem    forefather   and    kinsfolk " 
And  of  R<Kwell,  his  mother's  home,  he  says 
My  mother  told  me  so  much  about  4e 

'34 


IN  THEODORE  ROOSEVELT 

place  that  when  I  did  see  it  I  felt  as  if  I 
already  knew  every  nook  and  comer  of  it" 
— ^as  indeed  he  had  known  it,  in  his  childish 
fancy,  sharing  in  the  deeds  of  those  fearless 
men  who  had  held  their  own  in  the  world. 
In  the  adventure  stories  of  Mayne  Reid's, 
he  found  the  fearless  man  holding  his  own 
in  the  world  through  his  knowledge  of 
natural  history.  That  knowledge  was  power. 
He  began  to  accumulate  it.  He  began  to 
read  natural  history.  One  day,  passing  a 
market  on  Broadway,  "I  suddenly  saw  a 
dead  seal  laid  out  on  a  slab  of  wood,"  he 
says.  "That  seal  filled  me  with  every 
possible  feeling  of  romance  and  adventure. 
I  asked  where  it  was  killed.  I  had  already 
begun  to  read  some  of  Mayne  Reid's  books, 
. . .  and  I  felt  that  this  seal  brought  all  these 
adventures  in  realistic  fashion  before  me. 
As  long  as  that  seal  remained  there  I  haunted 
the  neighborhood  of  the  market  day  after 
day.  I  measured  it,  and  I  recall  that,  not 
having  a  tape  measure,  I  had  to  do  my  best 
to  get  its  girth  with  a  folding  pocket  foot 
rule,  a  diflBcult  undertaking.  I  carefully 
made  a  record  of  the  utterly  useless  measure- 
ments, and  at  once  began  to  write  a  natural 
history  of  my  own,  on  the  strength  of  that 
seal.  I  had  vague  aspirations  of  in  some 
way  or  other  owning  and  preserving  that 
13s 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 

the  seal's  sSS  ant^S  ^^'i*''  '  ^  ««* 
"  ^as  the  ordinary  small  bov's  colI«>t,-n^%^ 

mel^i!/^  t^.^  *°*'  '^°^'^  encouraged 
ple™^  or  hdp  d=4l^^r  '"'^ 

I"  bto^fc^^ST'^ »«»»  of  power  th»t 


IN  THEODORE  ROOSEVeLT 
by  taking  something  out  of  himself  and 
puttmg  It  on  paper  where  he  could  see  it. 
Beyoad  all  else  in  value,  these  two  acts  of 
self-assertion  were  made  successes  by  reason 
of  thetr  receiving  the  warm  encouragement 
of  his  hero,  the  father. 

"Here  we  see  the  beginning  of  a  pattern 
^conduct  which  tended  to  unconscious 
repetition  thereafter,  as  a  character  trend. 
Roosevelt,  aft^  any  period  of  stress  in  his 
adult  hfe,  could  win  a  sense  of  renewed  self- 
^nfidence  by  collecting  big  game  trophies 
and  writing  about  them.  These  two  devices 
were  used  again  and  again  to  the  end  of 
bis  days.  They  became  a  symbol  of  self- 
assurance  that  was  as  potent  in  his  old  age 
as  It  had  been  in  his  early  boyhood  " 

As  an  indication  of  the  strength  of  the 
^o  instinct  in  the  boy,  you  will  notice  that 
he  called  his  museum  not  the  "Mayne  Reid 

^M  T.  °^  i!?^**^^    «^«*°^'"    nor    the 
Manhattan  Museum,"  nor  anything  else 

but  the  "Roosevelt  Museum."    uZiiS^ 

this  self-assertiveness  had  been  left  unde- 

pressed  by  the  father  may  be  gathered  from 

Roosevelt  s  accomit  of  the  only  whipping 

his  father  ever  gave  him.    He  had  Wtten 

his  sister  on  the  arm.    He  ran  and  hid  under 

a  table  in  the  kitchen,  but  before  he  hid  he 

armed  himself  with  some  dough,  which  he 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 
S:ot  from  the  coot     vm.      . 

«t  him.  "havC  the  J    *?^^  «>«  do««h 
**'«»  I  «mldSa?i  advantage  of  huaX 

an  «ct  of  p^e.  h^t  S?^  ""«^*  have  been 
jjj-y  as  not  the  thought  of  a  cow^ 

'fis  parents  as  u^ 

^holesome  pl^^n^t  i*^*^  P^e  him 

fluences  by  the  fa^^  f^  ^^  fondly  in- 
?^WbeS^2^*^tr^  health  ^,S 
he  would  WbSn  ^  ^''^''^  «=hool  wh»e 
y-^  bruS^f  S^  *«>  the  cheS 

«  important,  b2a2e1t^^««^d-    This 
^^^«rtiveness  fr^^-*  P^vented  his  self- 

"cental  h^^^'Ss^^^'"''^-^^- 
°"t  of  the  gristle."      **^cter  were  "weU 

"ativetSf,^  t.S«^ly  detenni- 
rf  asOmia,"  he  wriS^-r^^'^an attack 
myself  to  MoosehSd  f^J  ^^  ^t  off  by 
^  ride  tmSrf^l  i^,*^  ^*^«^ 
who  were  about  mv^if  *=°"P^e  of  boys 
f'xAiaorecompetS?  ^'^T^f^*''  ^ut  ve^ 
^  ^  a  foreonlained  an^  '^'  ^^^  ^"^^  that 


IN  THEODORE  ROOSEVELT 

miserable  for  me.  The  worst  feature  was 
ttat  when  I  finaUy  tried  to  fight  them  I 
discovered  that  either  one  singly  couM  not 
only  handle  me  with  easy  contempt,  but 
prevent  me  from  doing  any  damage  what- 
ever m  return." 

Here  was  a  bitter  discovery  that  all  the 
devices  of  fancy  and  half  fact,  which  had 
hitherto  given  him  a  feeling  of  security,  were 
useless  m  a  clash  with  real  life.  He  could 
not  physically  hold  his  own  with  his  feUows. 
He  was  thrown  back  on  the  raw  instinct 
of  self-assertion,  and  the  energy  of  that  in- 
stmct  m  him  is  shown  in  the  way  he  sought 
out  his  next  device  and  the  patience  with 
which  he  perfected  it. 

"I  made  up  my  mind,"  he  writes,  "that 
I  must  try  to  learn  so  that  I  would  not  again 
be  put  in  such  a  helpless  position ;  and  having 
becOTue  quickly  and  bitterly  conscious  that 
I  did  not  have  the  natural  prowess  to  hold 
my  own.  I  decided  that  I  would  try  to  supply 
Its  place  by  training."    This  new  device 
was  also  backed  by  the  encouragement  of 
the    hero-father.     "Accordingly,    with    my 
tather  s  hearty  approval,  I  started  to  learn 
to  box.    I  was  a  painfully  slow  and  awkward 
pupil,  and  certainly  worked  two  or  three 
years  before  I  made  any  perceptible  im- 
provement   whatever.        My    first    boxing 

IJ9 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 

"^h!5^  John  Long,  an  ex-pme  fighter 

X*  prized  sSsS'rs.rr'"'^ 

alluded  to  it  anH  t  *       l        ^'  ">  fi°d 
for  a  nunSi'o^'^ei?^'-  ''"^^  "^*  >*• 

deflTe'.'- Klfi:*',^  "°^t-*  °^  -Jf- 
defensi^e  ideS  rf  t^^"'  '^"^  "^V  the 
achieved  a  Ssi^ci'^  '%?r'  ^^<^ 
the  pride  and  eSS^-tJ^^/°"°^«l  ^ 
successfuJ  attemnT^r  «      *"^^  ^""^  any 

hen,-boxt/-*ri*  rSi^'^SL."^"' 
sociated  with  the  wT?  *u  '     °**»me  as- 
man  who  could  howT''"'^ -^  ^  ^^^less 
Roosevelt  w^  at  £t       ""^  '"  *^^  ^^^W- 
the  oppressi:^  5  he  fa^tTnh'^-^T  '"»" 
ness;  and  this  zm^de^JJu^'^  ^^■ 
had  lifted  theX  £?     of  boang.  which 
sorcery  of  the  uton<^^  ^°'  ^  t^«  ^ 
devi^thatStisf^^n?.-''!^"^  *°  ^-    The 

conscio^^ptS  S'SaS:  C  ^ '- 
conscious  criticism      '  T  i^o  ^  **^^e 

to  sympatS  Si  thl  ^  "^^^'^  ''^^n  able 
%hters/ he^ti  "^^  °"tcry  against  prize 
as  Poli<U  cw^-    •    ^  encouraged  boxing 

140 


IN  THEODORE  ROOSEVELT 

great  pugilists  received  a  royal  welcome 
there.    He  enumerates  their  visits  and  is 
proud  of  their  friendship.    The  identification 
even  goes  beyond  the  sphere  of  their  ac- 
tivities with  the  gloves.     'Battling  Nelson,' 
he  writes,  'was  another  stanch  friend,  and 
he  and  I  think  alike  on  most  questions  of 
political  and  industrial  life.' 
^  "I  realize,  of  coiu^e,"  says  Doctor  X, 
"that  this  about  Battling  Nelson  may  have 
been  written  partly  in  humor  and  partly 
in  self-assertion— the  latter  in  defiance  of 
the  general  attitude    of    criticism    toward 
prize  fighters  of  which  he  speaks.    But  the 
subconscious  fact  remains  that,  through  box- 
ing, Roosevelt  first  began  to  realize  his 
dynamic  wish  fearlessly  to  hold  his  own  in 
the  world;  and  boxing,  to  his  subconscious 
mind,  became  almost  a  magic  rite  and  the 
champions  of  the  prize  ring  his  gem'i  of 
success.     'When  I  went  to  Africa  John  L. 
Sullivan  presented  me  with  a  gold-mounted 
rabbit's  foot  for  luck.    I  carried  it  through 
my  African  trip,  and  I  certainly  had  good 
luck.' "  J-  s 

Roosevelt  came  out  of  the  first  sheltered 
period  of  his  life  with  an  unchecked  boyish 
instinct  of  self-assertion,  strongly  supported 
by  his  wish  to  resemble  his  big,  leonine 
father,  and  fortified  in  his  ideal  of  fearless- 
141 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 


ness  by  hi,  «„ 

»«  father,  on  SundajJlS??   •PP««ntly. 
Under  spur  of  W  '  ^  *  miwion  dan 

fy  to  oolI.«e^/j^  y««  befor* 
'  WM  in  coU^  "    Jif  ~^  '««■  yean  that 
h«  father  sav^him^"l?*^«<«  ^ 
;;««1  '^volt  agaiTff?»,«»?  »«««»  boy's 
^.  Orthodox  iKs  Sr^  '^"^  a»dWt 

'^a^st  becoming  a  S,vL.i'.?*T^«l  him 
««e  desireTabaftvTJf  •  7  had  no 
and  section  cutter  Zn,'^*  "^a«scopist 
t'oan."    And  ndth«^J°  ^  *  "aS^ 

«atics  appealed  totfaid^f?.'?^'  nu^the- 
and  holding  his  o^  '^  °'  ^eing  fearless 

•"t  Harvaiti  he  nr^^     ^ 
*^f  chaptere  of  a  h^t  *v  *J^'  "<»«  or 
Publfched  on  the  Nlv^ar^f*  i  '^*«^«^ 
^ptersweresocwIlS/'*"-    '^«« 
"ade  a  dictionaiVii^*^^  ^°^  have 

«^e  «ason  thS  b^h^jJ^^^^y-  f*  the 
^««dry.  HewMcSw'"*/"^^^ories 
of  per«>nal  powT '^^^^^^  facts  as  assets 
digiousmeniOTvanrf  i,  .^^  ^'^ays  a  nro- 
his  "RoosSS;''  tl^  •*  ^^  "tS 
B«t  he  never  had  the^l?\*!^al  ^t^ 
'wa  the  meditative  fflindttat 


IN  THEODORE  ROOSEVELT 

broods  over  facts  and  reUtei  them  to  one 
another  m  theories.  He  did  not  gather 
them  instinctively  because  of  his  interest  in 
them,  but  instinctively  because  of  their  value 
to  him.  They  remained,  therefore,  as  dry 
and  detached  as  the  facts  in  a  dictionary. 
But  his  memory,  being  animated  by  his 
strongest  instinct  — his  ego  instinct  — was 
always  one  of  hir,  keenest  faculties.  That, 
perhaps,  is  the  explanation  of  the  fact  that 
with  such  a  store  of  material  in  his  memory, 
he  was  nevertheless  always  liable  to  think 
commonplaces  and  write  platitudes. 

He  was  a  fairly  good  student  at  collie, 
but  not  brilliant.  Since  his  period  of  shel- 
tered daydreaming  had  lasted  up  to  the 
ap  of  fourteen,  and  he  entered  college  at 
eighteen,  he  must  have  been  much  younger 
in  mind  than  his  classmates.  He  did  some 
boxing  and  wrestling,  "but  never  attained 
to  the  first  rank  in  either,  even  at  my  own 
weight."  His  social  instinct  was  as  yet  un- 
developed, and  his  college  life  did  not 
develop  it.  The  collie  fHendships  of  which 
he  speaks  are  friendships  with  tutors  and 
professors.  He  took  no  part  in  the  collie 
debates.  His  chief  interests,  he  says,  were 
scientific,  yet  a  scientific  career  made  no 
appeal  to  his  subconscious  ideal.  Therefore, 
although  he  "fuUy  intended"  at  one  time 
»43 


TM  SECJIET  SPItlNGS 


politics.  '  '"'  «»ddenJy  went  into 

Why? 

died  and  left  hittT^lr^  His  father  had 

^I'ving.  Neithe^bSiStw  ''^'Mo'- 
appealed  to  his  idealof  ^'  .  '  "**  ^''^nce 
its  own.    He  Ld  «n     ^^^««»>ess  holding 

divided  intothe^^or^""-    ^°   «   ^^Id 

«^'^'«™hig.    His  fri^rl«   »,         '^'^    the 

lations  were  not  contT«ii»ri  i!  .      ^^  °^»an- 
that    they   W    "i^"^''^  ^"'"enien'"; 

horse^';«n^^orJ^^^J    saloonkeepers 

>«h  and  hnSHnd^n^"  ""^^  ^^« 
with."  He  writS-  "T^^*^**°deaJ 
«£  were  so.  iTS^yJ^J^ed  that  if 
I  knew  did  not  belone  to  1^  *  *^^  P^'P'e 
?nd  that  the  o^S^X^^r^'*  <='^. 
intended  to  be  Me  ofW^       "^"'^  *^«t  ^ 

More  importer  tha^fjf'^r^  *=^" 
^  a  field  i^wS  £     ^''  ^^  ^^  politics 

hold  his  oS^rit  a  s;* '?  '^^s  «s 

.  as  m  a^xing  nng.    He  told 


IN  THEODORE  ROOSEVELT 
his  friends  that  if  the  "rough  and  brutal 

proved  too  hani-bit  for  me,  I  supposed  I 
wouU  have  to  quit,  but  that  I  catidnly 
would  not  quit  until  I  had  made  the  eflFort 
and  found  out  whether  I  was  reaUy  too 
weak  to  hold  my  own  in  the  rough  ^ 
tmnble/'  And  he  adds,  later:  "I  no  mSJ 
«^ed  speaal  consideration  in  politics 
than  I  would  have  expected  it  in  the  boxing 

"°f  "t    •  r^^  *°  *^  squarely  to  othen^ 

and  I  wished  to  be  able  to  show  that  I  could 

hold  my  own  as  against  others." 

Fortunately,  added  to  this  self-assertive 
defiance  of  his  subconscious  fear  of  in- 
fenonty,  he  had  an  ideal  of  rectitude  derived 
from  his  father.  And  he  had  a  sympathy 
wiUi  the  under-dog  which  came  of  his  own 
early  weakness  and  dependence.  What  he 
did  not  yet  have  was  any  development  of 
his  social  instinct,  any  sense  of  the  herd 
as  the  source  of  the  power  by  which  the 
herd  was  governed,  any  identification  of 
himself  with  the  mass  of  the  people  He 
wntes  of  his  first  tenn  in  the  legislature: 

At  one  period  I  became  so  impressed  with 
the  virtue  of  complete  independence  that 
I  proceeded  to  act  on  each  case  purely  as  I 
POTonally  viewed  it,  without  paying  any 
iieed  to  the  principles  and  prejudices  of 

MS 


^  THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 

desS;«i, J^,:«72i*  ;^  ««t  I  speedily  and 
anything  at  all;  and  T  ^  °^^accQmplishing 
invaluable  lesson^  S^^J^^*  *hf 
activities  of  lif»   ^"^'^  ™  aU  the  practical 
highest  se^ci  JSs'T  ^  '^'^'^  ^ 
hi^tion  with  his^tews  ^  «««*  in  cam- 
that  Se°?^i\^^'«^  of  his  cha^cter 
which  mcTof  us  i^,'"^^*"^  «  lesson 
«*ool  yani     A^  r^  ^  <*il*^n  in  the 
late,  li^iake^  cSS.-^  ''^°'  '^«1^ 
duct.  Jt  X  noT"S  S'^^  ^?^  «»- 

fying  hiS"^;°srhSnr^  ^  ''^-" 

always  a  ruler  r^i.-    •  ^-    ^^  remained 
holdS  hifrv^^ttS^^/^lessS^I 

public  rectitudTkn?  a  ^J'f.  ^^   °^ 
-e:S'^;>?Ue^^«Sjdtnt 

at  the  end  of  his  ^em^*        •  ^*1  ^hen, 
lature.hewent  West^l*^  ""  *^«  l««is- 

-ew  pattern  of  f^I^iSi^-JLi^^^ 


IN  THEODORE  ROOSEVELT 

r?  "\**^^orld~namely,  the  Rough  Rider. 
Md  added  hun  to  his  gaUeiy  of  heroes. 
Hen  Roosevelt  built  himself  up,  physically 
And   here  he  learned  anoth^  deVice  S 
feM^^^tohitfet.  "Servingasdeputy 
sheriff,     he  says,   "I  took  in  more  than 
one  man  who  was  probably  a  better  man 
than  I  was  with  both  rifle  and  revolver: 
but  m  each  case  I  knew  just  what  I  wanted 
to  do.  and.  hke  David  Harum.  I  'did  it 
fcst.  whereas  the  fraction  of  a  second  that 
the  other  man  hesitated  put  him  in  a  position 
wbM«  It  was  usel.  ss  for  him  to  resist  " 

He  came  back  into  politics  from  the  West 
with  his  character  trends  whoUy  formed  and 
all  his  mstmctive  devices  perfected.  Doctor 
X  sums  up  briefly  what  those  trends  and 
devices  were: 

iJi"^  ^^^I'  nearsighted,  asthmatic  boy, 
loving  his  father,  wishes  to  be  like  him  i^ 
fearl^sness  and  holding  his  own.  This 
wsh  IS  the  unconscious  issue  of  the  impulse 
of  self-assertion.  It  becomes  the  dynamic 
wish  of  his  life.  j"«u«. 

"Sickness  separates  him  from  the  realities 
of  Me,  specially  as  they  would  have  been 
met  in  the  pubhc  school.  He  can  only  dav- 
dr^  and  read.  He  gratifies  his  dynanric 
wish  by  pretending  that  he  participates  in 
the  adventures  of  his  book  heroes.  These 
147 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 

means  to  obtain  iwf    lS%  f%  ?  '^^ 

magic  device^  SS    ^e^    iL"' *" 
is  approved     It  tw^^'    ?^  succeeds  and 

strenuous  life.'  '^^^  ^^-  Hence  'the 
tn  ",S  «»^tration  of  power  necessary 

reahty  creates  an  unbounded  egotism  T^ 
^otism  has  to  be  maintained  th^ahS^ 
as  a  protection  to  the  innatTcSSSni 

coinl  a  ^^    *  ^"^  "^^  poKtidan  be- 

^eisappro1ed*%?^2;;^;-^and 
148 


IN  THEODORE  ROOSEVELT 

"There  stiU  remains  unsatisfied  the  ad- 
venture wish  of  childhood  where  the  hero 
wins  by  knowledge  of  nature  and  power  over 

m£  ^1°  ^^  "^^J^^  the  wish  is 
MfiUed.  The  plainsman  becomes  the  model 
rf  acquired  power,  self-reliance,  and  the  art 

Si^P^M^*-  ."^^'  '^^  B«  Stick,  the 
Rough  Rider  regiment,  the  hunting  expedi- 
tions^tiie  tnps  to  Africa  and  SouthAmS. 

«o„fS£^f  ^*°"'  P^y'''=^  ^S°^'  *e  stren- 
uous hfe  of  adventure,  political  craft,  collect- 
ing and  wntmg  were  all  masks  and  devices 
to  obtain  for  the  feeling  of  inferiority  the 
safety  of  the  position  of  'fearlessness  and 
holding  one's  own.' " 

w,-J?^i,l^^^,  ^Plai'iswhy   Roosevelt, 
with  aU  his  fearlessness,  never  showed  the 
placid  courage  of  serene  self-confidence     It 
explains    the    unceasing    bustle    of   "self- 
assertiveness  which  made  his  public  life  so 
clamorous.    It  explains  the  predatory  and 
conquenng   air    of   his    communion    with 
Wature,  as  compared  with  the  manner  of 
such  a  naturalist  as  John  Burroughs,  for 
example.    It   explains   his   fearlessness   in 
action  as  contrasted  with  his  lack  of  fear- 
lessness m  thought.    It  explains  why  he 
wrote  so  much,  and  yet  wrote  so  little  that 
was  of  any  philosophic  value.    And  it  ex- 
plains much  else. 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 


be  for  ^    H^w^itff  ^l-^'  ^°^ 
And  he  woufdlrf  ^°^J^**^^t-" 

because  his  UtrioSw.^/h'  nationalism, 
of  his  ego,  Sd  he^oS^ilr.^^°° 
first  •  as  he  wouJd  be  for  hW  S^^'^ 
let  his  opponent  be  the  samT^  ^-and 

reform  3own  f^^  He  would  hand 
a  ^bel  agSst^y  ^^^  in''^.^^^ 
attempted  to  dep,^  E^J^  P^JJ^k^^  tbat 
were  in  command  of  hilz^  *^*  Po^er 
split  his^^    °f  Ins  own  party  he  would 

If  he  formed  a  new  party  he  wo„M       ^ 

-in7fiSft£t  "^  r^  -t -w"f 

wasL'g  Sj^^jP^^bopeless.    He 

He  had  an  iictivri?^^  ^  °^«- 
to  hold  his  own  in  tj:  wSd^  "^  "  °«^- 

na^^hirif  i^/L'iLr^.'^T^  ^- 

coUect  men  as  he  rvSil!^"*  ^""^  ^«  ^°^^ 
of  his  ego  •  Bui'h^i^  S^*''  ^  ^PP°rt 
of  men.  as  he  was  of  f^\^  ^  P°"  J^^S^ 


IN  THEODORE  ROOSEVELT 

about  men— their  usefulness  to  him.  And 
he  would  be  easily  deceived  by  any  enemy 
who  avoided  making  the  signal  that  aroused 
his  drfensive  pugnacity  and  who  came  into  his 
confidence  in  the  disguise  of  a  friendly  aide 

Anyone  who  will  take  the  trouble  to 
read  Roosevelt's  Autobiography,  with  this 
thcopr  of  him  in  mind,  will  find  many  other 
proofs  of  Its  correctness.  And  he  will  find 
something  else. 

Says  Doctor  X:     "We  have  been  beUev- 
mg  that  a  child's  character  is  formed  by 
admomtion  and  precept  on  the  part  of  the 
parent,  the  teacher,  and  the  Churdi,  and 
by  wiU  power  and  perseverance  on  the  part 
of  the  child.    It  is  becoming  evident  that 
this    behef   is   whoUy   false.    The   child's 
character   is   formed,   as   Roosevelt's   was 
formed,  by  an  unconscious  wish,  that  arises 
out  of  his  imitation  of  some  loved  elder, 
^om  he  impersonates  in  thought  and  act' 
"nus  wish  owes  its  great  power  to  the  fact 
that  It  is  a  part  of  the  great  instinctive 
energies  of  life,  and,  Uke  aU  desires,  supplies 
its  own  dynamic  drive.    As  a  rule,  the  need 
to  use  will  power  merely  indicates  some 
defect  of  character-some  state  of  opposition 
m    energies    that    should    be   working   in 
harmony. 

"Roosevelt  himself  believed  that  he  used 


"THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 


will  DOWer      Tf   * 

to  be  like  hfafaSi  !1  ^,^  his  desire 
find,  deserves  to  Tani?**  ^**^"'  *°  ^^ 
ff  hers  of  histo,?  ^^^L"^'  •«««* 
character  in  binLif  „,,^^'.*^  t^its  of 
jnu-tate  to^va^"  ^g^  his  son  could 
his  son  by  indiffer^Sor  S  ♦  °^^  a«enated 

he  encouraged  S'L^'^b?^^'"*.     ^^ 
every  attempt  at  self^™^  apProving  bis 

how  simple  ^  howST*"?'  °°  "^^ter 

^«  njade^it  PoibTe  for1"iwM  ^  t'  1°^- 

'nf«iorandhandicapSfro^lt'  P^^f'^y 
of  his  itruggle  wiS  Efe  S"  l^f  ^^^^inning 
the   most   consnir,,™T:  achieve  one  of 

^h^VrgenS--  P^Bal   succ^ 

thist\"SJr'^£'-«  cannot  often  do 
of  l?ve  and  conS.^*^  ""1^^  ^^^hol 
receive  her  love  feTh^"  Jl°  ^ct  so  as  to 
fewanls.    To  S  Jo  i  tff*^  °^  human 
«  the  deepest  of  ^ts^^  her  sonow     ' 
Iov«  "s  often  too  impfSt  tn    \%  ™°*her's 
^<fs  in  the  boTi  to  1^,7'*  f?'- 'worthy 
goal  to  which  thoi  So?c  1^  ^  P^"^  the 
The  typical  Am2ic£  Sk  °^^  ^  '^^«^- 
«»  wholly  tolJ™  J^*''?'' J^ho  leaves  his 

*he  boy  ^'^^'^^J^^uenceis doing 

else,  it  seems  to  meTfi,.  i       '  **^^«  ^ 
velfs  life."  '  "^  *he  lesson  of  Roose- 


1S2 


CHAPTER  VII 

m  CHARACTER  AND  CONDUCT 

AMONG  Doctor  X's  patients  there  is  a 
r^  brilliant  but  extremely  irritable  man 
who  came  to  be  treated  for  indigestion  and 
headache.  "He  was,"  says  Doctor  X,  "the 
m<Mt  imtable  person  I  have  ever  known— 
and  I  have  known  many."  His  irritabil- 
ity was  his  strongest  characteristic,  and  it 
affected  his  whole  life  and  produced  for 
himself  and  everyone  around  him  much 
unhappmess. 

He  was  espedallv  irritable  in  affection, 
and  his  mother—of  whom  he  was  most  fond 
—seemed  to  "get  on  his  nerves"  more  than 
anybody  else.  He  was  almost  impossible 
at  the  table.  He  was  morbidly  critical  and 
s^tive  about  his  food  and  the  manner  in 
which  It  was  served;  in  fact,  he  had  come  to 
the  pomt  where  he  had  to  inspect  the 
kitehen  and  be  satisfied  about  the  cook 
before  he  could  eat  with  an  appetite.  He 
had  weird  objections  to  foods  of  certain 
colors  and  consistencies.  After  he  had  eaten 
n  »S3 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 


any  suspdon  that  a  dirf.  h.A  u 
«»ne  would  make^  ^  ***"  wawhoJe- 
S^  to  thi^Sn^^y  ai'  And. 
that  control  d«estion  '"^  *•»«  »erves 

She  had  equaU?  SS  S""?t?*  *^«  ^t^ 

to  feed  hinT^-th  Ttz^  ^^^^  compelled 

had  been  alwa^^'foUo^^  ^,'?  ^"^  S 

"Station.  andluTti^I  ^^*='  ^'^^'^ve 

as  he  could  take  Slid  fS^«-   ,^  ««« 

f^  of  prejudices  aS  I  ^""^"P**  ^ 
fte  color,  its  hanW  r^/*«  appearance, 

hisunconsdousSi^.?^^"^-    ^«  ^hort 

feeding.    His  instinct  «*«  o^  the  act  of 
pother  had  bS^S^olved   f""  ^°^  ^is 
«^g.  with  thTs^T^L,^  *^«  be- 
and  that  complicatiTsSll^^^  '"^'^'ion. 
anconsdously.  ®*^  Persisted,  quite 

.   Says  Doctor  X-  "T»,«  „ i- 

faction  of  bodily  cr^vino!  ."^^^Ttal^'e  satis- 
necessary  foundatir^  f  |l"^1f  *  ^  the 
I J  °*  *  ™™  character. 


IN  CHARACTER  AND  CONDUCT 

The  placidity  and  self-confidence  of  later 
years  have  their  source  largely  in  the  early 
unconscious  contentment  which  the  infant 
obtains  from  healthful  and  regular  habits 
of  feeding,  digestion,  and  sleep.  I  have  yet 
to  find  among  my  patients  a  bottle-fed  baby 
who  has  these  characteristics  of  quiet  sta- 
bility of  temperament." 

One  of  his  nervous  patients  is  a  young 
woman  to  whom  he  recommended  the 
leisurely  warm  bath  as  a  thing  of  "uncon- 
scious comfort  value"  to  start  the  day.  He 
found  at  once  that  the  prescription  was 
wrong.  Her  morning  bath  left  her  irritable, 
depressed,  and  filled  with  vague  feelings  of 
resentment  against  the  world  and  its  in- 
justice to  her.  Since  she  took  a  bath  every 
morning,  she  always  sat  down  to  breakfast 
in  this  difiicult  mood,  and  the  meal  generally 
ended  in  a  miserable  scene  of  mistmder- 
standing  and  tmhappiness. 

On  going  back  over  her  childhood,  Doctor 
X  discovered  that  as  a  baby  she  had  always 
been  given  her  bath  by  an  elder  sister  to 
whom  the  task  was  apparently  distasteful. 
She  had  been  washed  in  cold  water,  with 
soap  stinging  in  her  eyes,  perfunctorily 
dried,  and  left  sticky  with  the  remains  of  the 
lather.  A  dumb  sense  of  careless  vmkind- 
ness  and  injustice  had  invariably  ensued. 
155 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 

^onaSl:i;S;Tj?rr^  and  con,. 

dovm  to  breakfS  Ta^j^^'^.d  "^t  hlr 
depression.  "  ™°od  of  martyred 

*^wlSrStS^S^'"P'«'  °'  the  value 
fffecting  chamct«.  ^t.,°«'*  comforts"  ^ 
*e  points  out  "o.*«,»„^®  normal  infant  " 
his  stomach  4efe"w  *."°«^-  cries.^ 

cycle  repeats  itsSf     w«  ,.   ^'^P'  "ntil  the 

«  °^pr  to  estabS^^i  «*duct.  °°*  ^y 
hw  character.    Cn  ,7!  *^*' but  to  base 

JUe  from  the  n«8+  ~L7^^  °^  securitv  in 
™«  liable  to  uncftn?y^°^°^wiU  leave 

^c  in&mity  SlliSt^"?^'*  '^^ 
n«t  thought  of  thefrJo^'  .•^°me  is  the 
ffar-strickea  man  Ld  S^."^  "^^  «"  ^e 
,^°«ld  cany  totte^stW^°"«^*  °^  W 
^«»>«^ous  fee£s"5'°^^^«ind  all  the 
«cape  to  theT^L  «?cunty  that  the 
^..  burrow  gives    the  hun^ 

^i"^  "SS^ij^^-^t^  a  well-known 
— ng^l^St'his^i 


IN  CHARACTER  AND  CONDUCT 

<U«tru»t.    The  feeling  had  become  so  morbid 
that  It  was  blocking  all  his  creative  eflforts. 
It  Aowed  in  his  dreanxs  as  a  heightened 
self-disgust    and    shame.      Through    these 
dreams,  the  feeling  was  easily  traced  back 
to  an  incident  in  his  childhood  when  his 
mother  had  reproved  him,  with  great  disgust 
and  aversion,  because  he  had  shown  an 
infantile  curiosity  about  one  of  his  bodily 
processes.     She    had    been    horrified    and 
ashamed  of  him.    Her  contempt  had  made 
him  deeply  ashamed  of  himself.    Being  a 
sensitive  child,  this  feeling  had  been  per- 
petuated by  lesser  criticisms  in  later  child- 
hood—criticisms that  might  ordinarily  have 
passed  without  ill  effect.    He  was  now  suffer- 
ing from  a  permanent  defect  of  confidence 
that  made  any  successful  effort  impossible 
to  him. 

Says  Doctor  X:  "The  first  stability  of  a 
child's  character  is  rooted  in  the  feelings 
of  pleasure  and  power  which  he  gets  from 
performing  his  bodily  functions  satisfac- 
torily. His  interest  in  these  processes  is 
natural  and  normal.  His  curiosity  about 
them  is  equally  so.  To  make  him  suddenly 
ashamed  of  them,  or  of  his  curiosity  con- 
cermng  them,  is  likely  to  impair  his  self- 
respect  permanently  and  to  check  his  in- 
teUectual  curiosity  at  its  source.  He  should 
'57 


™^  *^CRET  SPRINGS 

<rf  imitation."  nnugb  Um  iartfajct 

s^birssjir^/^ftioni. 

Hereis«y^^'^*V»3du«  cb«^ 

planation  for  it  until  »-T^  "  '^  "- 
pother,  during  4eCL?ni!i  *^*  ^^e 

her  always  at  tw?o&in  Sf  ***  ""^ 
H«e  is  a  vouna  »I^  "*  ***«  morning. 

tmmels.  unable  to  T4vJt**,,"  c"'^'"*"' 
never  reaUy  happy  ,^,f  .*?,  Subway. 
««»ntry  house  Stt,^±  »  "^^  «  a 
*  ely  fond  of  moto,^  siflT  • '•  P^'°"- 
mght  air  in  an  ope^  f^^ '°  .«>«  cool 
*o   all   her  acou^^tT'       fr«h-air  fiend  " 

"ent.  and  so  forth  ?iiT°"  ^  "°"««- 
«tics  take  their  Sni^*!^  character- 
to  her  by  h»  n^Zf^  *^^  *  story  told 
When  she^L  C"S.  "^  «^y  Pr^oo? 
her  anguished  moS^T^^^°°«^  ^^. 
thetic,  watching  the  dS  ^*^°"*  «°  "«». 


IN  CHARACTER  AND  CONDUCT 

ratpintion,  by  twinginr  the  infant  rapidly 
through  the  air,  holding  it  by  the  arms. 
The  mother's  account  of  her  sufifering,  while 
■he  watched  the  doctors,  and  the  young  girl's 
Imaginative  sympathy  for  her  ow  1  u^er  of 
fuffocation  as  an  infant,  had  ma.l-  surh  -., 
impression  on  her  that  the  uncon  cy  .  ,  mei  b- 
aniam  of  respiration  had  been  .:;  ,  le  •  Any 
diflSculty  in  breathing,  whethe,  al  or  imag- 
inary, put  her  in  a  panic  whi-  h  r.o  j,  -j-si..'i>  =.  ,11^ 
of  reason  could  allay.  Hei:c:c  the  1  ft.  ot  of  a 
high  wind  that  "took  away"  !.,-  1 -eaMi. 
Hence,  too,  the  feelinf  of  suffocicn  u\ 
tunnels.  Subways,  Pulhnan  bertlj  ,  losed 
rooms,  etc. 

An  unconscious  imitation  of  the  mother  or 
father  may  easily  form  ideals  of  conduct 
ttiat  will  determine  the  course  of  a  whole 
life.  Here  is  a  young  woman  who  at  the 
age  of  five  found  her  mother  crying  "as  if 
her  heart  would  break."  She  was  morbidly 
devoted  to  her  mother,  and  when  her  mother 
told  her  that  the  father  had  left  her  for 
another  woman  she  conceived  a  violent 
hatred  for  him.  "All  men  are  bad,"  the 
mother  said.  "  They  always  hurt  those  who 
love  them." 

At  seven,  this  child  told  the  family  doctor 
that  she  "would  never  marry,"  because  all 
men  were  "bad."    As  a  young  woman  in 
159 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 


^?;!^S~'  "^'.  *«  ^'^^  that 
pris  remained  unmarried  hw^o^.^  *v 

had  "such  low  S^    cr^^  *^^  '"«' 

to  men   b«t Ti,!  •    ®^*  ^^  attractive 

tW  "^^  '■'•°^«*  um-esponsive  to 

she  began  to  S?n!i?^      *°  "'*^'  ^^ 
now  a  'S^.e'SnXaS^T:;^^'^ 

-r.:et£t-v^"-^^^^^ 

"A  man  teUs  me."  says  Doctor  X.  "that 
i6o 


IN  CHARACTER  AND  CONDUCT 
^  is  better  for  him  than  medicine,  and 
brtter  for  all  men.  He  has  every  sort  of 
mtelhgent  and  saentific  ai^ument  to  support 
S?;  .,  ^  patently.  It  begins  to  appear 
^\i^  fr^^Jv^  ^°^  ^  ^  peculiai^^t 
,S  ^\^^  ^^  ^™P'  "  °^^  ^ey  trousers, 
and  a  dnrt^  at  the  throat.    His  friends 

r^  ^  ^^  ^^'^^^  t'ut  he  sticks 
to  It.  Good.  As  we  go  on  with  our  talk 
1  learn  tfiat  as  a  boy  his  father  was  his  great 

hours  in  the  open,  and  had  the  time  of  their 
hv^.  It  develops  that  on  these  jaunts  the 
father  always  wore  the  costume  that  is  now 
so  neo^sary  to  the  proper  enjoyment  of 

those  clothes,  is  more  valuable  to  him  than 
any  medicme  he  can  take." 

The  unconscious  imitation  cf  the  father 
or  mother  IS  responsible  for  the  fact  that 
so  many  of  us  are  "bom."  as  we  say,  to  a 
rebgious  faith,  a  poUtical  party,  a  profession. 
or  even  a  habit.  In  religion  or  politics 
the  unconscious  mind  having  accepted  the 
fejth  as  nght  in  childhood,  the  conscious 

S^  «"l^  I^  f'''^^  ^  the  argmnents 
that  suppOTt  the  faith  and  gives  them  forth 
as  reasoned  conclusions.  The  choice  of  the 
profession  is  made  in  boyhood,  and  the 
practice  of  It  IS  subsequently  accepted  as  a 

i6i 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 

fiMB  are  two  brothere,   both  of  «*«« 
smoke  constantiv     T»,i.  ,L  wnom 

One  of  my  patients,"  says  Doctor  Y 
when  she  left     tji,_  v  j  j™"^  worse  than 

con^S^abSt  T  ^  •  "^  t^"^"^*^*  ^d 
'"wng  aoout  It;  he  IS  irritated  if  his 


IN  CHARACTER  AND  CONDUCT 

r^*  ^V^  \^*  with  a  brim  that  keeps  the 
sun  out  oL  her  eyes;  and  she  has  to  suffer 
in  ord^  to  look  beautiful  to  him.  Under 
the  doctors  questions  he  confesses  that  his 
mother— to  whom  he  was  most  devoted— 
always  wore  bonnets.  He  cannot  remember 
havmg  ever  seen  her  in  a  large  hat. 

And  here  is  another  patient  who  is  always 
teaming  his  wife  to  wear  earrings.    Earring, 
to  him  have  a  peculiar  fitness.    They  seem 
to  make  the  face  more  balanced  and  beau- 
ITu      ?  admires  espedall"  the  very  ornate 
wid  bangled  earrings  of  the  crinoline  period 
His  taste  IS  explained  by  the  discovery  of  a 
pirture  of  his  mother  wearinj  such  e^'ngs 
and  by  her  recolIectiMi  that,  as  a  babv 
Ac  used  to  let  him  play  with  tke  earrings 
to  «top  his  aying. 

,  .Say«  Doctor  X:  'The  wbconsdous  or- 
«in  of  manjr  of  owr  aerthetic  t«tes  and 
idMb  of  beauty  is  yet  to  be  explored.  It 
exfUams  wfixy  jtaadards  of  beauty  vary  m 
d>ff«ent  couaerie^  for  example.  And  « 
acTOWBts  for  mseoj  idiosyncrasies  of  taste 
MM*  are  otherwiic  quite  puzzling." 

A  bu^ess  man,  engaged  in  promoting 
new  iBve«ments,  suffers  from  lack  of  sdf- 
confidence.  He  has  a  pecuHar  trait  of 
cbara*^:  be  is  very  lavish  in  his  tips,  and 
wften  be  dmes  m  a  restaurant  he  Iwibes  the 


'^■^:J;^'hti^:MA¥\:'M?^:  -ts 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 

waiters,  the  head  waitpr  tv,^  u      .. 
what  not  to  Si  ST'w     *""  ^y  '^ 
attention.    It?s  a  S.       **  "^^^  «><* 
that  whenever  Li  ^^^n^.his  friends 
have  aU  tiiT^anSn  X  '^f'  ^e  has  to 
behind  hisdi^  £  i°  *j!  P'**  ^di«« 
tWs  chamctt^'ic  fa  tJ&  *?  i^'  «-? 
a  sort  of  snobbishness     St^^^u  ^^f 
Doctor  X  finds  that  tul    ^J"^^^  by  it. 
in  India.    Hfa  faJS  ^^  ^^T^  ^««  ^o™ 
He  had  a  iSJe  ««^  was  a  high  official. 
whoXved^f>,r     "^  °^  °**'^«  «*vants 

-as  a'-sectSy  vre"^''^T^*7^*=« 

haSTfalrbSnS^ieii^^rr  '^°" 
will  need  all  your  se^^nfif^       ''^'^'^  y°" 

you  lunch    Tt  wilTS       ^°"  P'^  ^hil« 
aids  to  banning  »„!,         ^  unconscious 

T64 


^'  : 


IN  CHARACTER  AND  CONDUCT 
They  are  supports.    And  this  man's  aeed 
of  the   'loyal   subject'   is   so   common  in 
J^^^  that  it  mai.es  the  tipping  system 

Now  let  us  examine  some  less  superfidd 
character  trends. 

An  aggressive  young  architect,  who  came 
to   Doctor   X  in   the   ordinary  course   of 
practice,  showed  this  strange  characteristic- 
it  he  were  elbowed  out  of  his  place  in  the 
queue  at  a  ticket  office,  he  not  only  felt  no 
resentment  at  the  injustice,  but  he  accepted 
It  with  pleasure  and  relief.     On  going  into 
the  natter,   it   appeared   that  he   always 
yidded  his  place  in  any  such  situation  not 
with  meekness  or  subserviency,   but  with 
scCTet  satMaction  and  a  queer  sense  of  good 
luck.       pe   analysis    of    this    uncommon 
reaction,     says  Doctor  X,  "explained  two 
other  pecuharities  of  the  patient.    The  first 
was  that  as  an  architect  he  had  a  strong 
aversion    to    planning    terraced    effects    in 
courts  and  gardens.    The  second  was  that 
He  had  an  exaggerated  faith  in  luck,  and 
seldom  worried  over  any  lack  of  success  in 
a  project,  but  attributed  every  failure  to 
SOTne  sort  of  vague  fate  that  overruled  his 
efforts. 

These  characteristics  were  explained  by  a 

reminiscence  of  his  childhood.    His  earlv 

«6s  ' 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 


day  while  he"«  ^°^j^^^-  One 
upper  terrace  a  enwn  o7>v,  ^f?  °°  *° 

werepreparmgthK-«!i^il%^°''  ^ 
shooting  butte-  or  ^f  IC^^  *<>  8°  to  the 
of  mimaryZsdZ,^^'^°°^  was  a  sort 

tripped  himThSL  ?^  "*  **  «^«  this  boy 

a  gun  exolodefl  n„  tu\  ™*  moment 

bt^SSle  w''r«:t«^ace.    The 

juxnp,  SS^  Sl^2^  '"'^^  ^  taken  the 

did  not  W  wW^^'^'P^tient.  who 

after  him  £  aTSe  f.^^^^^  *°<^  "« 
terraces  ih?  fef  L  *  ^1  ^**°"  °f  the 
somersault  LfI*^^o7,,^^.f«Jy  ^^  ^ 
The  second  WatteSi^v*  ^**  ^^  ^^• 
he  woke  to  wZtSttS  ^3^^^°- 

He  Sd°'tK;^5"** ^'-^  -^th  hom,r. 
the  accide1t^*i^^^«  ^  *'"''«ht 
his  turn   and  tt.i7  ^  Jumpmg  out  of 

he  felt  that  if  he  had  no.t    ^\^^^  time, 

io6  * 


IN  CHARACTER  AND  CONDUCT 
Aal  at  the  funeral  services  in  the  school 

uf  hL    ,"^^^  '^*  ^  the  relatives  of 
his  dead  playmate  looked  at  him  accusingly 

5^^^"*?*  h*-  There  was  a  senS 
.  The  whole  mcident, "  says  Doctor  X.  "  strik- 
h^^JtS''*'?  ^^  impressionable  boy,  left 
han  w^th  a  horror  of  terraces,  a  fatalistic 
dep^dence^  luck,  and  an  imp;ired £SS 
1^-^'°"  that  permitted  him  to 
«c^t  second  place  m  anything  with  a  feeling 
1.  *  ^^  '^^ty-  He  was  quitH^ 
aware  of  the  origin  of  these  chaiiristlS. 

SL^c  Tu'  <=°°°«^«1   them  with   the 
madents  of  his  school  days." 

A  settlement  worker  came  to  Doctor  X 
brotei  down  with   overwork  and   gSric 
disorder.    Her  chief  symptoms  wS  ^' 
and  vomiting.     "These,"  says  he,  "are  ^ 
pressions  of  unconscious  disgust.    I^k^ 
her  what  phases  of  her  woS  amonftS 
P^r  had  first  given  her  a  feeling  of  d^fgi^! 
With    an    expression    of    aversion    and    a 
S^.  ^'nl  ^^"^  something  away  she 
S    k.i^f^^'?^^'    They  made  me 
St  ^^,^Pf°Pl«   didn't   seem   to   mind, 
and  I  couldn't  mideretand  that,  but  they 
^  souls  like  other  people  ank  I  felt  it 
was  my  duty   to   endure  the   unpleasant 
167 


,j.  ™^  SECRET  SPWNOS 

'^W^SSe1^^.2rt    Christ  never 

f««ed  to  me  tStl7iS^  ****««••    I* 
duty.    SoIfouXoffmw"l."yChriatiaa 

"^^  «  t^'<^  iJictert  R  ^^  ^'«'«od  girl 
mother  who  bST^I^^  ^'^■tion  bf  a 

the  house   was   «„  °*^«  vermin  in 

that  amounS^t^.^^S^We  dis^^ 

f  J  hid  been  teu^t  to  SJ,f  ^^^  ^^ 

°f  body  or  mind    S  !ru"°*^^''°^^ess 

P°r  had  been  a  proStT^  '*'°°«  «>« 
hermstincts.     "W^^ff  ^  ""artyrdom  of 
fays  Doctor  X.  "3  »K   "^^^^^  *he  body," 
«  conduct  they  S  ^*"  *^^  are  oppo^d 
Her  iUness  wS^S^^P^^tate  th/b^ 

of  fe  which  h^cSl^^^^t  a  comi 
"f «  1"hconscic^y"^i^.  ,t^am,ng  had 

Another  of  hT^.^'^hle  for  her." 
y-^  woman  ^aTyS"!"  «  -««-to^o 
h«ht   to  portray  %^?^-     .*  novelists  de- 
ventions  S^'t^^  '^  defiant  of  con 

"-t"«]^H-S^- 
^'"-^^if-islS-^Ltt^ 


IN  CHARACTER  AND  CONDUCT 

worriee  her  family  by  driving  her  motor  car 
too  fast,  especiaUy  at  night,  when  she  de- 
lights to  take  long,  lonely  rides  through  the 
countryside.    She  is  ungovernably  impatient 
with  anyone  who  procrastinates  or  comes 
1^  to  an  appointment— although  she  is 
often  late  herself.    She  cannot  bear  to  be 
deceived,  or  put  oflf  with  vague  explanations, 
or  treated  w.  ii  anything  but  downright 
trutii   and  seriousness  even  in  the  most 
trivial  concerns.    And  she  is  always  quarrel- 
ing with  her  fianc6  because  he  has  an  easy- 
going and  good-natured  way  of  evading  her 
earnestness  and  putting  her  oflf.    All  these 
qualities  and  characteristics  of  hers  she  re- 
gards as  virtues,  although  they  are  accom- 
panied by  a  great  deal  of  emotional  friction 
that  keeps  her  upset  and  unhappy  and 
nervously  unwell. 

The  explanation  of  her  character  lies 
whoUy  in  her  childhood.  Her  mother  was 
an  overanxious  and  unreasonably  apprehen- 
sive woman  whose  every  admonition  to  her 
daughter  b^au  with  a  "don't."  The  girl 
had  a  restless  vitality  and  a  strong  self- 
assertiveness.  She  early  revolted  against 
her  mother's  timidities.  Warned  against 
going  out  alone  in  the  dark,  it  became  her 
childish  delight  to  steal  away  from  the  house 
at  night  and  make  more  or  less  fearful  ex- 

13  169 


I 

THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 

SS:^^t;«l*«-hood.  and  this 

anything  tha?^f*W^  I*  «lole«ence. 
"otherl^:'^^°J/^«' by  «>«  beloved 

I*ter,  anything  cZn^T  u    1?^*^  **<*«• 
fascination  ^fr?lr^2^*'°"^d  the'same 

^e^-^SJ^r^^^^^S'-^achild 

SW^arthaf^S-^^^^^^^ 
They  used  to  get  rid^w  ^  ^^^ed  them, 
on  her-sendinrh^  nn  *'?  P^^J^  Wcks 
off  togetherSr^:  SlT'  ''"^« 
ber  to  play  blindiZ-fb^tT  ^'"''« 
away  while  she  w^hM^^,f°?  "^™«? 
tending  that  W  ^^f. ..  ^^^''^^'-^rpre- 

house.  n^Zc^'i^Y^}  ir^to  the 
rage,  planning  rw^e^  ^^  "^  «  daily 
decepti^Tn?  S  how^^l^^  ^^^^^^t 
«=P«^ally  if  it  fe^„J°^  good-natured- 

of  aU  p«^rtion  t;7ts^^t^-«  ^'"^  °"* 


IN  CHARACTER  AND  CONDUCT 
was  always  promising  her  wonderful  things 
for  next  week-Shetland  ponies,  and  any- 
thing else  that  she  could  think  of-and  who 
always  cheerfuUy  disappointed  her  and  en- 
joyed mischievously  the  fury  of  childish 
rage  with  which  she  attacked  him.  It  was 
a  sort  of  game  with  him.  He  never  failed 
to  persuade  her  that  he  would  bring  the 
gift,  and  the  more  enraged  she  was  the  more 
he  enjoyed  it. 

With  all  her  dislike  of  procrastination  and 
?^«  ^1*^  °^  promises  in  others,  she  finds 
It  difficult  herself  to  keep  appointments,  be- 
cause  she  hates  to  be  tied  down  to  an  hour 
or  a  course  of  action.  It  lessens  her  in- 
dependence, and  she  revolts  unconsciously 
She  IS  ateiost  invariably  late  in  keeping  her 
engagements,  although  she  arrives  breathless 
havmg  hurried  all  the  way. 

EvCTy  student  of  human  nature  knows 
that  character  comes  out  most  strikingly  in 
aSaus  of  love.  It  is  interesting  to  see  how 
the  vanous  peculiarities  in  love  and  marriajte 
as  exemplified  in  Doctor  X's  cases,  fall  intd 
groups. 

There  is  the  group  of  those  who,  for  any 
one  of  a  score  of  reasons,  have  failed  to  grt 
the  parent's  affection  in  childhood.  When 
the  failure  is  complete,  and  the  parent  image 
has  not  been  the  symbol  of  affection,  the 


»«K»OCOfr  tBOWTION   TEST  CHAtT 

(*NSI  and  ISO  TEST  CHAKT  No.  J) 


1^1^114 


^^        (716)  3S8-59B9-Fa, 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 
ijistinct  of  love  is  blocked  and  a  haonv 
inarnage  made  impossible.    The  pieS^ 

the  same  failure  of  the  In™  7^  cnarm, 
pr^iuce  the  "vamplL"  U°^'  "°^«^  "^^ 

un  n?"  t?  ^^f  ^™"P  °f  patients  is  .made 
«P  of  those  who  have  sufferM  =.       ^I^, 

tiorrpLJ'^i;;^?,^?°^r^'*affS 

a^ompamrb^?^ii;,tS:trr^,^ 
fear  of  disappointment.  It  islS  anH 
fuspicious.    AndifthisdualiyifweSd 

™1°~  ,.  ^^  indecision  and  "ambi 
tlSfl  ~^>"  psychologists^  i^' 
cnoice  or  come  to  a  fi,^  ^  •  •  ."**^  * 
simplest  mat^.  ^  ^  ^^°°  ">  '^^ 
ExcKsive  love  from  the  parent  sets  th^ 
basic  characteristics  of  anothSuo     ilk 

^^t  ^t^^         transference  of  the  youne 
affection  to  a  mature  ^person,  or  to  a  typf 


IN  CHARACTER  AND  CONDUCT 

identical  with  the  parent,  or  to  a  family 
relative,  such  as  a  cousin.  Or  the  con- 
sciousness of  dividing  the  mother's  love  with 
the  loved  father  may  produce  in  the  son  a 
feeling  of  pleasant  security  in  loving  an 
engaged  girl,  or  a  widow,  or  any  woman  who 
has  been  previously  possessed  by  some  one 
else,  and  a  similar  effect  may  ensue  with  a 
daughter.  Or  excessive  love  from  the  parent 
may  lead  to  "narcissism"— which  is  ex- 
aggerated self-approval — ^to  a  craving  for 
indulgence  and  adulation  and  a  self -worship 
so  extreme  that  the  child  fails  to  develop 
the  true  protective  instinct  in  love.  Such  a 
boy  or  girl  is  above  being  protected  and  is 
too  selfish  to  protect.  The  boy  makes  his 
mother  a  slave  to  his  self-esteem  and  there- 
after exacts  abject  and  slavish  service  from 
all  women.  His  amatory  emotion  is  a 
sexually  formed  self -ambition  and  never  real 
love.  The  same  thing  will  be  true  of  the 
girl. 

In  the  countries  where  parents  are  com- 
monly harsh  in  their  authority,  as  for 
instance  in  Russia,  the  ideal  of  woman 
conquest  in  man  and  of  the  vampire  tjrpe  in 
woman  will  be  more  frequent  than  in  such 
a  civilization  as  ours,  where  children  am 
more  indulged.  The  recurrence  of  the  vam- 
pire in  the  novels  of  Tui^enev,  and  the 
173 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 
other  Russian  realkte  u  •     ^  •,  . 
with    their   raX    fri  '      '*"^."«^°"t'^' 
Observe  also  the  Jn,  i^   "^^'^^    fi«=«on. 
literatureTf  the  sensS^.'^  '"  continental 
ing  with  an  "iSo '>    ""''  T^°  '"^  ^^^r- 
parental  dominance  f^  complex"  due  to 
PlaceistakeriruTno^i-"^^-  J°">« 
and  self-assertive  hero  1'    '  ^     '?^ustious 
,    The   division   of^^ct.    '  T  '^'''^'■" 
latter  lines  gives  us  cwf-       ^'°"S   ^h^se 
ing    types-fSnoll      '^^^'■^^^"ntrast- 

AnxeriS  the  SSo£nicT/  ,""?^^^-      ^° 
prevalent   in   the   s^k'" '''^ '"  ^"^-^dibly 
crops  out  ^  the  ^      "'"^"^   "™d.    It 
•'NWn^of^,^re:^f'.tSf/^^-t  the 
of  finance,"  "the  M=^^i     '     ,*"®  Napoleon 
There  is  ;ven  a  llT'T  °^  *^  *^^*^'--" 
^^the  NapVontuI"?^!:^  t r')  "?' 
to  those  caotain.!  «f  •  j  *"  referring 

busts  and^rtraTtsld  .T"^  7 ^  ^'"ecf 

and  P^enn^f^vestth^^'r'."''^' 
fan,  or  her  bed    or  her  L^  •   J^^^Phnie's 

likeUnclePon?^evo?nWeSSTJ?^'-'  °^' 
Pmch  the  ears  of  th^rF     •'^'^'^^eay, 

PeriaJ  playfS^es^'  ^ntu"'"'^  ^'^  ^■ 

conscious^miSrtJr  Z^f''^  -^■ 
power  and  domination  f.T  •  Personal 
Pelling.    And  th^-         ^  ^^^^  and  com- 

i-erestinNapo&\rZ,:e1i3P^f^ 
'74 


IN  CHARACTER  AND  CONDUCT 

Hamlet's  appeal  is  to  the  sensitive  and 
depressed  who  are  the  conquered  instead  of 
the  conquerors  of  reality.    Poets,  artists,  and 
dreamers  meet  that  fate.    The  sickly  child, 
imable  to  triimiph  in  the  physical  contests 
of  the  playground,  attempts  to  compensate 
with  mental  attainments,  takes  to  books  and 
the  consolations  of  fantasy,  and  becomes 
the  imaginative  dreamer.    As  a  boy,  he  is 
awkward,  self-conscious,  shy,  and  sensitive. 
If  he  becomes  notable  as  an  artist,  the  ego 
that  made  him  precocious  now  makes  him 
domineering  and  vain,  but  the  subconscious 
feeling   of   inferiority   persists,    and   he   is 
touchy  in  his  vanity,  envious,  self -distrustful, 
subject  to  easy  depression  and  discourage- 
ment and  imbelievably  petty  at  times.    The 
poet   Byron's    clubfoot    was    the    physical 
index  of  these  qualities  in  him.    The  dia- 
'iolical  contradictions  in  the  poet  Pope  are 
inexplicable  without  his  crooked  spine.    The 
novelist    Dostoievsky   had   an    "inferiority 
complex  "  so  marked  that  it  may  be  studied 
in  some  of  his  stories  as  in  a  clinic.    Most  of 
the  vagaries  of  the  "artistic  temperament" 
come  from  the  subconscious  sense  of  in- 
feriority and  the  internal  conflict  that  accom- 
panies it. 

All  of  this  suras  up  to  the  conclusion  that 
character  is  almost  wholly  a  product  of  the 
I7S 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 

ideal  ZZi'Z:  Tnv 'IS^*!?  ^^  ^ 
the  ideal  Ut^u  ,  ^  departure  from 

the  parent  and  tLw    ^^^  "^Auences  of 

jfc^gtSs.'irth^ifrss 
2d^ai;r,:-'^thert:s^^^^^^ 

parent.  ™irSso  ^-f"^*^  "P°°  the 
port  to  the  Slief^^St'^thr^'^*^  ^"P" 
comer  stone  of  the  t  hnll       •  ^^'^  ^'  «"« 

Outside  of  the  home    t^^  '^f  ^• 
single  factor  in  the  f^.,*^^  "f^*  Patent 
lies  in  the  rSctfonf  ^  u°°  °^  cliaracter 

i^tinctoJLnnXon  ''^F^^'"'^  "^'^ 
says  Doctor  X^ 'S  I'n,  T'*^'*'°"^'" 
with  danger  S  ph^sicKT^^  ^"^^^ 
themselv^  in  bS^n/"*  ^.^  ^^ess 
pressions.  In  t^TSL  ^  emotional  de- 
life  they  'S^  Ln^y  i^^  of  savage 
different^dan^.  ''^'^^^  *°  «  totally 
.  -  "^^en  man  first  became  free  to  fo^ 

liiat  difference  seemed 


IN  CHARACTER  AND  CONDUCT 

when  they  died  was  to  him  the  spirit,  the 
invisible  soul.  Our  word  'spirit'  is  the 
Latin  word  for  breathing,  spiritus. 

1  his  soul  he  believed  immortal,  but  he 
beheved  also  that  it  was  threatened  by  evil 
influences  and  that  it  could  be  protected 
by  various  sorts  of  incantations.    His  in- 
stinct of  fear,  with  its  depressing  power  over 
bodily  functions,  became  involved  in  the 
protection  of  the  soul,   and   man  reacted 
more  to  the  fear  of  losing  his  soul  than  to 
the  fear  of  l^ingHs  life.    It  is  an  example 
rf  the  transference  of  an  instinct  from  a 
toddy  to  a  mental  habit.    The  importance 
of  this  mstinct  of  soul  fear  at  the  present 
tune  IS  due  to  the  influence  of  our  religious 
education  on  the  mind  of  the  child 
^'He  is  tau^t  to  believe  in  original,  an- 
cestral sm     He  IS  taught  that  he  will  lose 
his  soul  unless  he  is  saved  or  restored  to  a 
state  of  grace.    He  is  firat  reduced  to  a 
conviction  of  sin'— which  is  a  profoundly 
depressive  instinctive  fear  reaction-and  he 
IS   then  rescued   from   this   depression  by 
means  of   'salvation,'  and   the  anguish  of 
despair  is  replaced  by  the  elation  of  success. 
Nearly  all  rehgions  use  this  device. 
"The  instinctive  mind  is  thus  tuned  to 
177 


THE  SECRET  f  ?RINGS 


react  to  the  depression  of  the  eullt  «f  «„ 
.t  ha. now „ „e.„ rfeLSS ^'J? 

mentby  whc  ha  cmed  it  is  typical  ' 

g^able  to  do  more  than  a  hat-day'fwoT 
He  was  depressed,  dejected,  without  en^Sv' 
No  physician  had  been  able  to  discover Tv 

X^^:^  ^.'^'  *=^"«^  °f  his  condS 
A  thorough  examination  convinced  me  tw 

Ssrjr^f rb?^",!;  «^r^p^- 

ofcomp,ete"ra,'Ltt.^'Srta:t:r 

'•ke  a  cowed  and  beaten  aniiT  t^fS 

178 


IN  CHARACTER  AND  CONDUCT 

prevented  from  crawling  away  to  hide  I 
began  to  go  into  his  4tor?  in  s^Si  o! 
the  sources  of  his  failure  " 

the  c^"^  'Y  ^"  ^"^  ^"  Oon.  outside 

farmer    h,if  »,   "    ^        °*  ^  neighboring 

tW    He  wS?  to  tf:S?^S":^,P^'*^ 

eait ir*^*^'  ^.'  ^^^^  *°  marr,     He  was 

earnmg  enough  to  support  Htfe,  Si  S 

179 


■IHE  SECRET  SPRINGS 

"a  good  iSCrirr-  a^"^'  *"  ^"  '»^«^' 
For  three  yS  ^'    ''"'^  ''<'  ""^^  her. 

They  had  a^ii?  V^  '*'"**  '""PP^" 
emotion   of  C  ttJirt)r^  1°  ^'^ 

horribly.    H^locJtrT^T^^^ 

to  the  countX  ^^? tT  -^'^  °'"^««*  her 
died,  he^rrid  i  th?  '  P^""*'  ''^^■"« 
rented  theVfl^'  a^d'  KL"^°  ^ 
live  with  his  wifr  b.J^  u-.j  iT  *  "^*™  *« 
««  his  wSril  »:  5S  2i*  ■•■jmnuti.j" 


IN  CHARACTER  ANT  CONDUCT 

the  right  thSg  S?  Ws  Sfe  t  ''^'^  *°  ^° 
nights  and  to  W  S,  !^^'  *°/o  home  at 
succeeded  in  cSc?L  v '^ /°'' ''"••    He 
his  conduct    '4rS  £L5"to'h°"''^  "'^ 
and   indigest.         mT^^f       ^^^^  "«"»« 
The  doctOT  told  hi^L'^*'  «"*   «*«ker. 
that  she  coS?  n^  ht  ^T '^.t'^  '>^«' 
months.    He  r^^u      ."^°^  than  three 

used  to  sa?thin^  "J^  "'"^  ^^  '"oSS 
hann  to  iS  ^"^J^^  ^^'^'i  do  actual 
this  was  SSnse^buf^^^^^  ^^t 
'nsomnia,  and  bisli^Zl  -  ^^*"  to  have 
with  sle^SsnS  £^„  ""^  ""^^  h°^We 
able  avmiS^Thi''!^^^'  «"  ^>nconquer. 
home,  a  disgust  of  hL^^'  ^  J^^^^  ot  his 

"1.™  he  did  M  „  t     "'  ^SM  lo  «e  h.^ 
affwUon,  but  hi^.S       T^'  ""O"' 

'^-«.^™x,'rib°.°srbrss' 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 

to  marry  her,  and  his  revulsion  at  this  guilt 
and  his  struggle  against  it  reduced  him  to 
the  iinal  stages  of  insomnia,  indigestion,  and 
nervous  collapse. 

"What  he  was  now  suffering,"  says  Doctor 
X,  "was  a  physical  disgust  of  illness  in 
his  home  and  a  moral  disgust  of  his  evil 
thoughts.  Both  were  being  suppressed. 
Their  total  effect  was  being  loaded  upon  the 
reaction  of  instinctive  failiu-e,  and  the  result 
was  handled  by  the  conscious  mind  as  a 
form  of  disease.  The  predominating  emo- 
tion was  the  subconscious  horror  of  sin. 

"We  worked  out  very  clearly  that  his 
subconscious  ideal  of  a  wife  was  a  girl  like 
his  mother,  and  that  it  was  his  subconscious 
ideal  of  conduct  to  love  her  as  his  father 
had  loved  his  mother.  It  was  evident  that 
his  present  wife  did  not  fulfill  the  one  ideal 
any  more  than  his  conduct  fulfilled  the 
other.  Both  ideals  ware  compulsive.  Both 
aroused  instinctive  thoughts  which  were 
also  compulsive  and  could  not  be  controlled. 
But  these  thoughts  need  not  be  felt  as 
moral  guilt,  provided  they  were  not  acted 
upon.  He  was  at  liberty  to  think  as  he 
pleased  as  long  as  he  did  his  duty  and  harmed 
no  one. 

"He  agreed  that  he  had  been  staying 
away  from  his  home  because  of  his  aversion 
183 


IN  CHARACTER  AND  CONDUCT 

to  a  disease  which  his  childhood  training 
had  taught  him  to  loathe.  He  recognized 
that  his  failure  to  take  his  money  home  and 
his  loss  of  interest  in  his  work  were  both 
due  to  the  fact  that  his  ideal  of  a  home  having 
failed  him,  he  had  lost  interest  in  the  means 
by  which  he  should  support  his  household. 
He  saw  that  his  conduct  had  unconsciously 
betrayed  the  thoughts  which  his  conscious 
loyalty  was  repressing.  I  showed  him  that 
his  loss  of  interest  in  work  and  his  wish 
for  the  death  of  his  wife  were  only  the 
instinctive  attempt  to  escape  from  what  he 
was  forcing  himself  to  do.  I  convinced 
him  that  there  was  no  sin  in  having  ich 
thoughts  so  long  as  he  kept  them  to  h'  jeif 
and  did  his  duty  to  his  wife. 

"  Moreover,  it  was  clear  that  his  desire  to 
marry  his  boyhood  sweetheart  was  not  bom 
merely  of  a  wish  to  escape.  It  was  due  also 
to  his  subconscious  desire  to  marry  a  woman 
like  his  mother.  There  was  no  sin  in  this 
so  long  as  he  did  not  express  the  desire  and 
thereby  catise  any  one  unhappiness.  He 
agreed.  Being  now  free  from  the  conviction 
of  sin,  he  began  to  find  relief  also  from  the 
sense  of  moral  inferiority  and  self-disgust. 
His  insomnia  passed.  After  a  time  we 
found  that  his  nausea  had  disappeared. 
Then  his  indigestion  began  improving. 
183 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 

"Recognizing  the  matter-of-factness  of 
feeUngs  that  were  instinctive,  he  began  to 
take  an  interest  in  eaming  money  to  fulfill 
his  duty  to  his  wife,  with  the  added  sense 
of  penance  and  reparation.  He  allowed 
himself  the  natural  hope  that  if  his  wife  died, 
he  might  marry  his  first  sweetheart.  He  is 
now  doing  a  good  day's  work  comfortably 
and  with  better  health.  He  is  comparatively 
happy  and  his  skin  disease  is  ciu-ed." 

The  whole  case  is  an  excellent  example  of 
how  a  man's  conduct  will  imconsciously  and 
vmcontrollably  fulfill  an  instinctive  wish  when 
that  wish  is  most  vigorously  repressed,  and 
of  how  easily  the  conduct  can  be  controlled 
when  the  wish  is  allowed  to  drain  oflE  in 
consciousness.  "The  remedy,"  as  Doctor 
X  puts  it,  "is  not  to  grant  a  license  to  the 
instinctive  impulse,  and  not  to  attempt 
wholly  to  dam  it  up,  but  to  give  it  sufficient 
sluiceway  in  thought.  Dominating  impulses 
often  dwindle  to  a  trickle  as  soon  as  you 
make  in  consciousness  a  waste  weir  for  the 
dam." 

And  the  moi^al  of  this  whole  matter  of  the 
influence  of  the  subconscious  mind  on  char- 
acter and  conduct  is  the  old  moral,  "Make 
it  thy  business  to  know  thyself."  You  are 
being  constantly  affected,  and  very  fre- 
quently betrayed,  by  a  sort  of  hidden  sprite 
184 


IN  CHARACTER  AND  CONDUCT 

within  you  that  acttmtes  you  often  as  if  you 
were  a  marionette.  If  you  could  find  out 
what  he  is  doing,  you  might  either  check 
him  if  he  were  misleading  you  or  you  might 
bring  your  conscious  mind  to  aid  him  if  he 
were  guiding  you  aright.  The  difficulty  is 
that  you  cannot  see  him  by  any  effort  of 
introspection,  for  he  disguises  himself  against 
your  conscious  self-examination  very  cun- 
ningly. You  can,  however,  go  over  the 
record  of  your  past  and  see  how  he  has  led 
you.  You  can  find  him  working  in  your 
emotional  reactions— particularly  when  these 
are  more  violent  than  the  occasion  warrants 
— in  your  instinctive  likes  and  dislikes,  in 
your  ideals  and  ambitions  and  unreasoned 
choices  and  beliefs.  And  best  of  all,  you  can 
catch  and  study  him  in  your  dreams. 

It  is  this  business  of  interpreting  your 
dreams  that  we  must  next  consider. 


CHAPTER  VIII 


IN  DREAMS 

THE  Freudian  interpretation  of  dreams  is  a 
bewilderingly  complicated  matter,  about 
which  there  have  been  written  a  bewildering 
number  of  complicated  books.    To  the  or- 
dinary reader,  the  orthodox  Freudian  seems 
to  be  pursuing  his  dream  divination  through 
an  intricate  maze  of  sex  symbolism,  foUowing 
it  round  and  round  with  the  pale  frenzy  of 
a  monomaniac  who  has  become  rather  dizzy, 
though  he  still  remains  determined.    He  is 
giddily  difficult  to  foUow,  and  he  becomes 
mcreasmgly  unspeakable  the  farther  he  goes 
Fortunately,  Doctor  X  is  not  an  orthodox 
Freudian.    His  interpretation  of  dreams  is 
at  once  simpler  and  more  printable. 
Let  us  take  an  example. 
One  of  his  patients  is  a  married  woman 
who  came  to  him  with  an  apparent  derange- 
mMit  of  the  heart  which  her  family  physician 
had  diagnosed  as  perhaps  due  to  goiter     He 
had  referred  her  to  Doctor  X  as  a  speciaUst 
m  such   diseases  of  the  internal  gland.. 
i86 


IN  DREAMS 


?r.^  *  ^°^*^  "°  S°^*«^-  He  found 
nothing  to  account  for  the  functional  dis- 
turbance of  the  heart  and  the  choking  feeling 
of  which  she  also  complained.  He  lesui^ 
however,  that  she  was  often  attacked  by 
th^  symptoms  at  night  in  her  sleep.    He 

that  had  preceded  her  awakening  to  the 
distress  of  such  symptoms.  She  recalled 
the  followuig  mghtmare: 

hi^.^-l!!,'^^'"^.  ^^^  "^^  ^^  leaving 
h^  gu-mood  home  in  Buffalo  on  a  ste^ 

boat.  She  was  alone,  and  she  was  carrying 
an  umbreUa  that  seemed  to  her  to  be  a 
prized  grft  from  her  mother.  The  umbrella 
shpped  from  h«-  hand  and  feU  overboard. 
Overwhehned  with  a  frantic  sense  of  tragic 
loss,  she  plunged  overboard  herself,  resolved 
to  lose  her  bfe  rather  than  lose  her  mother's 
gitt.    She  sank.    She  was  drowning 

Her  struggles  awakened  her.  Put  she 
woke  to  a  choking  sense  of  fear  and  despair, 
with  ho-  heart  beating  madly;  and  both  the 

^?^^°t^^  *^^  palpitation  continued 
ail  the  next  day,  and  the  next.  She  felt  as 
It  some  terrible  disaster  impended.  On  the 
third  day,  alarmed  by  the  rapidity  of  her 
pulse  she  consulted  her  family  doctor  and 
told  hun  of  the  dream  in  which  the  symptoms 
had  oegun.  He  decided  that  the  palpitation 
187 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 

of  the  heart  was  due  to  a  goiter  and  that  the 
dream  of  drowning  came  from  the  difiBculty 
in  breathing  caused  by  the  heart  disturbance. 

Doctor  X  concluded  '.hat  this  diagnosis  put 
the  cart  before  the  horse. 

Disregarding  the  Freudian  symbols  in 
the  dream,  he  said  to  her:  "I  should  judge 
from  your  nightmare  that  when  you  left 
the  happiness  of  yotu-  childhood  home  you 
suffered  a  great  loss.  You  have  failed  to 
repair  that  loss  in  spite  of  desperate  efforts 
to  do  so,  and  you've  come  to  the  point 
where  the  fear  of  never  repairing  it  leads 
you  to  wish  for  death." 

She  burst  into  tears.  She  confessed  that 
what  he  had  said  was  true.  She  was  very 
unhappy.  She  had  tried  to  conceal  it  from 
herself.  She  had  :jev^  admitted  it  even  to 
her  mother.  "It  would  kill  my  mother  if 
she  knew  how  unhappy  I  am,"  she  said. 
"I  think  of  it  as  little  as  I  can.  I  busy 
myself  with  war  work  and  try  to  forget." 

What  was  the  cause  of  this  unhappiness? 

"I  have  never  loved  my  husband,"  she 
said,  "and  I  have  no  child  to  love.  I'm  so 
imhappy  I  wish  I  could  go  to  sleep  and 
never  wake  again." 

Now,  how  did  the  nightmare  picture  this 
tragedy? 

Doctor  X  took  the  details  of  the  dnam 
i88 


IN  DREAMS 
drama    one  by  one,  and  asked  her  to  tell 
him  what  incident  in  her  life  each^e/ 
Leaving  her  childhood  home  on  b^  a 

trHv'l'r"^^  ^"  ''  ^^  hone^: 
trip  by  water  Her  childhood  had  been 
most  happy.  She  had  been  stamp^  So 
"^amage  by  the  whirlwind  ^SfoH 
dommeenng  amy  officer.  She  had  not 
loved  hmi  wildly,  but  his  many  good  mmlitS 
had  convinced  her  that  he  wluM  iSkel 

l^t^w"'^''-    °"  ^^  honeymcT^She 

learned  that  he  disliked  childrerTand  waJ 

detmied  not  to  have  ^ny 
What  was  the  most  priceless  gift  she  had 

t^f  ^"^^"'^  ^^"^  ^^  mothS  It^ 
gu-l,  she  had  daydreamed  of  giving  such  a 
love  to  her  husband  and  her  clS?  and  of 
L  Sf  d'^fi'nl^  T^  "J!  atmosphere  of  ;^Sioa 
f  ^i     ^t.^  ^^'  childhood  home.    It  wi 

fc  *^^!  r^^  "^^«- 1'^  ^i^ed  now 
VVliat  ,ireat  loss  by  water  had  she  suffered? 

M^-'n  a  fox  temer  as  a  pet.  She  was 
ashamed  to  say  it,  but  she  had  lo^  7£ 
httle  dog  more  than  any  one  in  h«-  Itfe 

her'Sat'[t'"°*^^"  ,""  ^^^^^^^  ha'tdd 
fter  that  it  was  wicked  to  love  an  atiim^i 

so  inordinately     She  f^lt  that  I         ^  • 
ty»  +u    T^   ,/ • ,  "^^^  ^^1^  that  she  was  givine 
to  the  dog  aU  the  love  that  she  might  wf 

189 


i   I 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 

lavished  on  her  duld.  She  used  to  confide 
her  troubles  to  it,  and  it  would  listen  to  her 
with  its  head  cocked  on  one  side.  She  was 
sure  it  understood.  Then,  one  day,  it 
disappeared.  At  nightfaU  they  found  it 
still  struggling  feebly  in  the  water  at  the 
bottom  of  a  disused  well.  It  was  breathing 
when  they  rescued  it,  but  it  died  in  her 
arms.  She  broke  down  with  an  attack  of 
nervous  prostration,  haunted  by  a  picture 
of  the  httle  animal  fighting  for  its  life  in 
the  icy  water  and  looking  up  for  the  help 
which  it  had  never  failed  to  get  from  her 
before.  The  elect  on  her  was  as  tragic  as 
if  it  were  a  child  of  hers  that  had  drowned. 

When  did  she  first  have  the  wish  to  die? 
When  the  dog  died.  And  she  had  often 
wished  it  since.  Life  was  a  hopeless  fight. 
There  was  nothing  to  look  forward  to.  She 
still  had  her  mother's  love,  but  her  mother 
was  growing  old  and  feeble.  She  would 
soon  be  gone.  I.  was  a  thought  that  had 
to  be  kept  out  of  the  mind.  When  she 
went  to  see  her  mother  now  the  sight  of 
her,  aged  and  failing,  brought  nothing  but 
pain  instead  of  pleasiu-e. 

The  dream,  then,  had  merely  taken  some 
of  the  stage  properties  of  the  tragedy  of  her 
waking  day  and  used  them  in  a  little  sym- 
bolic drama  that  condense-i  the  sorrows  of  a 
190 


IN  DREAMS 

by  the  fictitious  incidents  of  the  dream 
^  ZTT'^  tje  -otions  that  wc^ldlSS 
^n  felt  if  she  had  consciously  reviewed  the 
gnevous  incidents  of  her  unhappy  iSaST 
TTiese  incidents  were  being  k^  ouTS^  £ 
c»nscious  thought.  Theattei5.ttorS,reL 
them  had  also  forced  them  to  assuS^^ 

dream.    But  though  they  were  disguised 

emotions-the  emotions  that  were  beinjr 
d^ed  up  in  her  subconscious  mind T? 
her  wakmg  deteimination  to  think  of  hi 
unhgpiness  as  little  as  possible 

From  my  standpoint,"  says  Doctor  X. 

the    dream    merely    provided    a    certa^ 

SS  t^  needed  eniotional  di^inage^ 

SterSItl  •  ^°^^'^  '^P*^'"^  persisted 
atter  herawakemng  showed  tbatthedammed- 

^ev"^^"  H  ^"'^  "^^"  *°  ^  Point^:^ 
they  were  dangerous  to  health.    Here  was 

relSS^L*'"'  "'""^  ^^^  emotions'wl": 
released  from  repression,  there  might  be 
senous  consequences  to  the  patient  Ln^ 
tally  or  physicjJly."  ° 

Accordingly     he   advised    her   that    she 
shoidd  go  to  her  mother  and  unburden  her 
^roubles  mstead   of  trying   to   bear   thS 
alone.    He  prescribed,  also,  that  she  must 
191 


li 

I! 


i  I 


'im  ii-i 


■fij  I 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 

accept  her  unhappiness,  adjust  herself  to 
It,  and  cease  living  a  false  life  of  pretended 
contentment  and  secret  grief.    Having  faced 
her  losses,  she  could  then  consider  what 
assets  she  had  on  the  other  side  of  her 
balance  sheet  to  make  life  endurable.    She 
had  a  sound  body.    She  had  youth.    She 
had  fnends.    Instead  of  continually  grieving 
because  she  had  missed   the  goal  of  hw 
deare,  she  might  attain  a  lesser  goal  of 
satisfied  affection  by  bringing  pleasure  and 
happmess  to  others. 
She  foUowed  Ws  advice,  and  she  is  now, 

^■.w°^  ,^  .^y^'  "'^^"'   «°d   contented 
within  the  hnuts  of  a  narrower  worid  than 
the  ideal  one  of  her  girlhood  daydreams  " 
Let  us  take  another  example. 
A  patient  dr.amed  that  he  was  in  the 
barnyard  of  his  boyhood  home.    An  im- 
mense horse  was  pursuing  him.    He  took 
refuge  m  the  bam,   but  the  horee  broke 
down  the  doors.    He  fled  in  terror,  and  now 
his  wife  was  with  him.    He  saw  before  him 
astonewaU.    If  he  could  climb  to  the  top 
of  It    he  would  be  safe.    He  could  easily 
do  It,  If  he  would  abandon  his  wife.    He 
decided  against  that.    By  a  desperate  effort, 
he  reached  the  top  of  the  waU  and  dragged 
his  wife  up  after  him,  but  he  had  diffiadty 
m  mamtainmg  his  balance  and  he  felt  that 
iga 


IN  DREAMS 
Doctor  X  said  to  him-    "T  ci,^  .^  • 

When  the  doctor  asked  hit*,  ♦«  « 
the  disconnected  dSof  Jf  ^^*^***'" 
incidents  and  memS  ol  W,  ^f"^  "^'^ 

had  also  preventerl   y,;^   t         "eaitn,  it 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 

SSwe*"^""*^  had  thus  bUghted  his 

When  he  finaUy  broke  away  from  home 

he  found  employment  under  the  govem- 

R^  ^l*'^  *'i^^"«  ^  P°^ti°«  when 
Roo^velt  became  President.  Roosevelt  was 
at  that  tmie  his  ideal.  There  was  in  his 
mind  some  association  between  Roosevelt 
and  a  powerful  horse.  On  his  way  to  vote 
for  Roosevelt  for  a  second  term  as  President. 

An  alarm  had  evidently  just  been  rung  in. 
for  the  doors  of  the  engine  house  suddenly 
flew  open  and  a  team  of  fire  horses  plunged 
out  at  him.  just  as  the  horse  had  plunged 
through  the  bam  door  in  his  dreaS  S 
barely  escaped  being  trampled  on 

Soon  after  election  President  Roosevelt 
cut  dov,ii  the  staff  of  employees  in  the 
department  m  which  the  patient  was  work- 
ing. He  was  reduced  to  a  lower  position 
on  a  smaUer  salary,  and  he  just  missed  being 
thrown  out  of  employment  altogether.  U 
was  a  great  injustice  to  him.  He  had  ever 
since  considered  Roosevelt  as  the  embodi- 
ment of  unjust  authority. 

him  °*^'t/''?  !?°''^'  *^^  ^^  been  hard  for 

home.  He  could  have  succeeded  weU  enough 

by  himself,  but  it  was  not  easy  to  support 

194 


IN  DREAMS 

h.J^"'  ^v.'^f  .*  «°«^  workman,  but  he 
had  no  political  influence,  and  it  war  puU 
he  said,  not  merit,  that  advanced  a  run  in' 
the  government  service.  It  was  t.  ,  late 
tO£o  mto  any  private  enterprise.  He  was 
mowing  old.  and  always  there  was  the  fear 

w^L  ."?*  ''^''^^  •"  h'^  department 
would  put  him  out  of  office  and  ^ndemn 
him  to  a  poverty-stricken  old  age.  Worry 
had  undermined  his  health,  and  he  felt 
that  he  might  break  down  any  day.  It  was 
by  a  very  small  margin  that  he  was  holding 

f^hoTy.^'""^*  '^^  '"^'^^^  ^^  -i-' 
"From  this  dream,"  says  Doctor  X,  "we 
got  an  insight  into  the  secret  of  the  patient's 
whole  problem.  He  was  the  victim  of  a 
subconscious  feeling  of  revolt-a  revolt  first 

XI2  ^u  ^^'^r''  ^"*^°"*y'  «"d  then 
gainst  aU  analogous  authority,  against 
Roosevelt  authority,  against  church  author- 

.L  *  v  T"  *«^^'"^*  ^^  authority  of 
society  itseU.  He  was  maintaining  an  un- 
happy child's  attitude  toward  life.  He  was 
the  victim  of  a  faulty  adjustment  to  the 
nec^sary  conditions  of  social  existence.  He 
was  helped  both  in  mind  and  body  by  getting 
him  to  recognize  the  unwisdom  and  un- 
J^^bleness     of     his     false     emotional 

'9S 


ii  I 


m 
■ll 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 

And  here  ia  a  third  example: 
A  young  woman,  who  had  been  married 
about  five  years,  came  to  Doctor  X  with 
symptoms  of  throat  trouble  which  it  was 
supposed  might  be  due  to  some  affection 
of  the  thyroid  gland.  She  described  these 
symptoms  as  "a  sort  of  choking  feeling." 
Under  his  questions,  she  tr:.  .ed  them  back 
to  their  beginning  in  a  nightmare. 

She  had  dreamed  that  she  was  in  the 
Idtchen  of  her  home,   at   night,   washing 
the  dishes.    She  heard  a  noise  at  the  out- 
side door.    It  opened  slowly  and  a  hand 
appeared,  holding  an  electric  flashlight.   An 
unknown  man  in  a  black  mask  sprang  into 
the  room  with  t.  pistol  in  his  hand.    She 
screamed  in  terror,  ran  from  the  kitchen, 
and  fell  fainting  on  the  stairs.    She  awoke 
in  a  stete  of  panic  with  a  choking  in  the 
throat  which  persisted  and  became  chronic. 
Doctor   X   said,  "You   are   doing   your 
duty  as  a  wife,  but  you  live  in  terror  of 
something  that  threatens  to  disturb  the  peace 
of  your  married  life." 

She  was  much  embarrassed.  "That," 
she  replied,  "is  something  that  I  can't  talk 
about  to  anyone." 

On  a  subsequent  visit  she  admi' ted  that 
this    "something"    was    a    thought.      "A 
thought,"  she  said,  "comes  into  my  mind, 
ig6 


IN  DREAMS 

and  I  have  to  fight  it  down.    It's  a  wicked 
thought   and   I'm   afraid   of   it.    It's   the 
thought  of  a  boy  I  quarreled  with  before 
1  mamed.    I  didn't  realize  that  I  loved 
him  until  too  late.    I  only  want  to  be  a  good 
wife  and  make  my  husband  happy,   but 
^'^  '^""^  continuaUy  into  my  mind  " 
The  flaahhght  suggested  a  flashlight  which 
the  boy  had  carried  when  he  came  to  call 
on  her,   in   the   evening,   at   her  country 
Home.    The  pistol,  too,  reminded  her  of  a 
pistol  with  which  he  had  armed  himself 
because  there  had  been  some  hold-ups  in 
the  neighborhood  at  the  time.    The  masked 
man--who   was   unknown   to   her  in   th- 
dream— was    the   boy   himself     "It   is   a 
rule,"  says  Doctor  X,  "that  any  unknown 
person  m  a  dream  is  some  one  very  w*>ll 
toiown  to  the  conscious  mind.    The  boy 
appeared  as  an  outlaw  because  he  represented 
the  outlawed  thought  that  was  breaking  into 
hCT  mmd  and  producing  fear  at  each  assault  " 
Her  Ideal  of  wifely  loyalty  was  so  high 
that  It  would  not  permit  her  to  have  such 
thoughts  of  another  man.    The  compulsive 
power  of  the  thought  came  twm  her  opposi- 
tion  to  It,   which   created   a  dammed-up 
energy  that  had  no  drainage. 

"Admit  to  yourself  that  you  like  this 
boy.     Doctor  X  advised  her.     "Allow  all 
»9; 


i       ! 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 

thoughts  of  him  to  enter  your  mind  freely. 
They  will  soon  fade  away.  He  was  for  a 
time  a  symbol  of  happiness  to  you,  and  your 
repression  has  fixed  the  idea  at  that  level. 
Admit  that  life  with  him  might  have  been 
romantic,  and  think  about  it  without  guilt. 
You  have  a  good  husband.  You  are  living 
a  good,  wholesome  Ufe.  You  are  interested 
m  your  home.  Don't  fight  yourself.  You 
are  making  yourself  iU  and  unhappy." 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  as  soon  as  she  took 
that  mental  attitude,  the  outlawed  thought 
lost  its  compulsiveness.    The  dreams  ceased 
and    her    throat    symptoms    disappeared. 
"Her  thoughts  of  the  boy,"  says  Doctor 
X,  "have  become  pleasant  memories  that 
do   her   no   harm.    Instead   of   fighting   a 
secret  sin,  she  smiles  over  a  girlhood  ro- 
mance of  the  past  and  accepts  her  present 
with  a  pride  in  her  sense  of  fulfilled  duty." 
And  here  is  a  fourth  case: 
A  patient,  a  married  woman,  was  very 
much  worried  about  her  mental  condition. 
The  circumstances  of  her  life  were  apparently 
happy.     It   was   true   that   she  had   been 
miserable  with  her  first  husband,  but  she 
had  divorced  him,  years  before,  and  married 
a  man  to  whom  she  was  entirely  devoted. 
She  ba^  had  a  child  by  her  second  marriage, 
and  all  was  well  with  her. 
198 


I- 


IN  DREAMS 

&d  her  baby  pi  Iyi„g  i„  ^  darkened  room, 
^^ntly  djang     There  was  a  smaU  red 

rt'e    'f  ^?."^V^  ^  hypodermic  needle, 
on  the  infant's  neck.    She  felt  that  some 

r^?^*^'^^^,  ^^  ^by  ^  her  abseTe 
Adark,  ^sy-lookmg  woman  came  into  the 
rorai,  and  on  seemg  her  the  mother  screamed 
with  a  shocking  oath.  "I'll  kiU  youT    At 
^'  N?w  ""n  V*"  l"^"^  °^  frightened  horror. 

sworn  KV^^rr'    ^^  '^'^'  "^  ^^^  °ever 
sworn  hke  that  at  anyone  in  my  life,  and 

I  «r  "^"^"^  ^^  ^^^  ^  feeling-to  wSt 
to  M  anyone     Does  it  mean  thft  my  Sd 
IS  becoming  affected.?    I  feel  as  if  it  were." 
No,    he  said.     "The  drean  is  only  the 
^auung  off  of  some  veiy  pow«f ul  emot^Jn 
that  you  have  repressed." 
.  "But  "  she  objected,  "I  have  no  repres- 
sions whatever.    I'm  quite  happy.    D^J^u 
think  It  could  mean  that  some  e\^l  is  thrL- 
emng  my  baby?"  "ireai 

"Not  at  aU,"  he  said.  "Your  dream  is 
too  symbohc  and  personal  for  me  to  gen- 
^.  but  rf  you  will  dismiss  the  drLm 
.tself  from  your  thoughts  for  a  momen" 
and  answer  my  questions.  I  think  we  cai^ 
find  out  what  it  means.  Tell  me,  who 
comes  to  your  mind  when  I  say  'a  dark 
gypsy-Iooldng  woman'?"  ' 


Ill  f 


1  t 


*lll 


!'l   f 


If  ; 


^1 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 

Q^'^L^"!*  husband's  mother,"  she  replied. 
She  added,  significantly,  "But  then,  he 
looked  just  like  her." 

"A  hypodermic  needle?" 

"  My  first  husband  was  an  addict.  That 
was  what  made  my  life  with  him  unendur- 

"  An  injury  to  the  neck?" 

"My  own  neck.    My  husband  choked  me 

t"o  lt.eS"   ^'  ""  "^*  ^^^  - 

"An  innocent  young  girl?" 
.     'Myself.    My  husband  married  me,  an 
Ignorant  and  romantic  young  girl    and  I,p 
destroyed  all  my  iUusions.    ifeSled^Jnt 
S^  ?•  "^f    Sometimes  I  felt  I  could  have 

S|lt'ldeL:."'^"^^'^^^^^^^°— 3^ 
"I  think  you  have  there  the  secret  of 
yourdream,"  the  doctor  said.  "Your  hus- 
band s  actions  raised  a  murderous  hatred 
m  you,  and  your  self-esteem  repressed  it  as 
vmworthy  of  your  better  self.  For  years 
this  undramed  hatred  has  been  festering  in 
you  You  should  recall,  instead  of  for- 
getting, aU  those  brutal  scenes  with  him. 
and  If  necessary  swear  out  any  feelings  that 

you  11  get  nd  of  them.    Better  a  sulphuro,^ 

atmosphere  m  your  boudoir  than  a  seething 

aoo  *■ 


IN  DREAMS 

J^p  of  suppressed  bitterness  in  your 

mi^iT'J*  ''  T^^"^^  ^^^  ^^  ^^^  patients 
might  have  been  saved  much  wo^  and 
Jl  health  If  tJiey  had  understood  the^ech- 
amsm  and  the  functions  oi  dr^amine     A 
dream  ,s  a  'jrm  of  thinking.    iTn^  of 
us,  thu^g  ,s  that  form  of  mental  activity 
m  which  thought  is  used  as  a  tool  to  solve 
problems-«uch   problems   as   making   in- 
come meet  expenses,  planning  a  business  deal 
or  a  course  of  action,  evaluating  another's 
motives,  or  arranging  a  vacation.     "This 
form  of  thinking,  which  we  may  caU  con- 
centration," Doctor  X  points  out,  "is  de- 

the  child  IS  trained  to  solve  a  problem  in 
arithmetic  instead  of  musmg  on  a  wished- 

Sl  ?.  T ^^•o'"*'^  ^'  swimming  or  playing 
baseball."    But    musing    on   a   wished-to 

pl^ure  IS  also  a  form  of  thinking.  We  caU 
vt  daydreaming.  "Most  of  us,"  says  Doctor 
A,  have  a  contemptuous  disrespect  for 
daydreaming  or  reverie.  It  is,  however, 
the  most  natural  form  of  thinking.  Itcome^ 
nearest  to  expressing  our  real  selves.  Its 
mc«t  striking  quality  is  the  high  degree 
of  interest  tiiat  it  has  for  us,  and  this  deSee 
of  interest  indicates  the  strength  of  the 
instinctive  desires  by  which  such  thinking 


*i!!li:!' 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 

is  always  energized.  Daydreaming  is  con. 
cemed  with  the  realization  in  fancy  of  our 
dearest  ideals  and  most  instinctive  wishes, 
which  reality  has  frustrated.  Daydreaming, 
however,  is  censored  by  our  waking  in- 
telligence, which  keeps  fancy  within  the 
limits  of  possibility.  In  the  dream  of  sleep, 
intelligence  ceases  to  censor  fancy,  and  our 
wishes  have  their  way.  We  may  daydream 
of  what  we  wovild  do  if  we  had  a  possible 
raise  of  salary.  In  the  dream  of  sleep  the 
raise  of  salary  arrives — possible  or  impossible 
— ^and  the  dream  proceeds  to  live  up  to  it." 
The  simplest  dream,  then,  is  the  fulfill- 
ment of  an  instinctive  wish  that  has  been 
frustrated  by  reality. 

But  dreaming  has  another  function.  Our 
instinctive  wishes  are  not  only  frustrated 
by  reality.  They  are  also  blocked,  in  our 
waldng  hours,  by  our  codes  of  conduct, 
our  consciences,  our  sense  of  what  it  is  right 
or  wrong  to  desire.  Any  interference  with 
an  instinctive  impulse  dams  up  energy,  and 
any  interference  with  instinctive  thinking 
produces  an  anxiety  which  we  feel  as  worry. 
"The  common  formula  for  the  relief  from 
worry,"  says  Doctor  X,  "is  to  'forget  it.' 
But  I  find  that  worry  is  always  due  to  a 
fear  of  failure  to  reach  an  instinctive  goal, 
and   the  instinctive  impulse  continues  in 


IN  DREAMS 

spite  of  the  forgetting.  The  unsatisfied 
instmct  remains  as  an  irritating  form  of 
energy  somewhere  in  the  mental  life.  The 
dream  serves  to  drain  this  off.  A  recurring 
dream  will  cease  as  soon  as  the  repressed 
emotion  is  allowed  to  enter  the  conscious 
mind  freely.  And  I  find  that  any  incident 
having  free  entry  into  the  waking  thoughts 
rarely  appears  in  dreams." 

It  would  seem,  furt;her,  that  the  power 
which    repressed    the    instinctive    thought 
while  we  were  awake  still  operates  while  we 
are  asleep  and  compels  the  outlawed  thought 
to  disguise  itself.     "The  jilted  suitor  who 
forces   himself   to   forget    his   inamorata," 
says  Doctor  X,  "never  sees  her  face  in  his 
dreams,  but  he  suffers  in  his  dreams  pre- 
cisely the  emotions  that  he  would  feel  if 
he  allowed  the  recoUection  of  her  to  enter 
his  waking  thoughts.    The  release  of  these 
repressed  emotions  has  to  be  obtained  in 
his  dreams  by  adroit  and  hidden  means 
Hence  the  more  powerful  his  repression  is 
the  more  difficult  it  will  be  to  understand 
his  dream." 

The  dream  mind,  of  course,  can  think 
only  m  pictures.  If  you  feel  yourself 
threatened  by  some  menace,  the  menace 
will  appear  in  your  dream  as  a  masked 
man  at  the  door,  as  a  huge  horse  in  the 

30j 


1'  ' 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 

bMnyard.  or  as  some  other  object  that  is 
associated  m  your  subconscious  mind  with 

^Sl^n^T"-    I*  '«  perhaps  the 
sewt  of  the  popular  appeal  of  the  moving 

£f^  °i  '^^  subconscious  mind     And 
since   the  dream  mind   is   the   instinctive 

^jif^f  ^*^mg  signals  that  we  call 
^bols  '-It  ,s  natural  that  the  dream 
pictures  should  so  often  prove  to  be  symbols 
that  are  as  old  as  art. 

The  orthodox  Freudian  has  done  an  enor- 
mous   work    of    research    in    identi^ni 
these  syimbols.    He  has.  as  it  were.  SS 
the  words  of  your  dream  dictionaA.,  oS 
^  one.  and  traced  them  back  to  their 
roots  and  onginal  meanings.    But  he  has 
too  often  made  the  mistake  of  studying  S^ 
words  apart  f,x»n  their  context,  and  S£s 
made  an  erudite  mystery  out  of  sentences 

Doctor  Xs  method  seems  more  sensible. 

tiLT'^\^^  ™°«  ^th  the  emo- 
^  contents  of  the  dream  than  with  the 

itself.  He  finds  thut  the  emotion  is  always 
evident  arid  undisguised,  because  itTthe 
pu^  of  the  dream  to  release  that  emot  on 
from  repression.  "The  real  part  of  the 
304 


IN  DREAMS 

dream,"  he  says,  "is  the  emotion.  In  in- 
terpreting a  dream,  the  initial  question  to 
ask  yourself  is  what  were  the  emotions  felt 
m  the  dream.  The  details  of  the  dream 
may  at  first  be  disregarded.  Thi-:  is  difficult 
for  the  dreamer  himself  to  do  when  he  is 
attempting  self-analysis.  He  will  discover 
that  he  is  always  interested  in  the  detaUs 
of  the  dream  and  gives  little  heed  to  the 
emotions." 

In  our  Puritan  civilization,  the  commonest 
of  all  repressed  emotions  are  the  sex  emo- 
tions. Repressions  become  involved  with 
repressions  in  the  subconscious  mind,  and 
the  orthodox  Fretidian,  being  on  the  look- 
out for  sex  symbols,  finds  them  in  many 
a  dream  whose  main  theme  is  by  no  means 
sexual.  For  instance,  all  the  four  dreams 
which  I  have  given  above  contain  sex 
symbols  that  imply  some  suppression  of 
sex  emotions,  but  to  interpret  those  dreams 
wholly  in  terms  of  sex  would  be  to  miss 
their  point.  The  Freudian  interpretation 
of  dreams  is  often  dangerotisly  wrong  for 
that  reason. 

"A  dream  is  always  egoistic,"  says  Doctor 
X.  "It  is  always  concerned  with  the 
dreamer  as  its  central  figure."  But  it  has 
a  confusing  trick  of  splitting  up  the  person- 
ality of  the  dreamer  into  his  known  qualities. 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 

which  are  shown  as  separate  actors  in  the 
dream.     If  you  have  a  violent  temper,  like 
your   friend    B,    B    himself    is    likely    to 
*W>^'"    »n    youi-    dream    as    your    "angry 
self.      A  feminine  dreamer  who  reproaches 
herself  with  having  strong  mascuUne  charac- 
tenstics  will  figure  in  her  own  dreams  as  a 
boy.    Animals  will  often  in  dreams  play 
the  part  of  that  self  of  the  dreamer  which 
he    considers    brutal    or    animal-like.    For 
example,  a  dream  enacts  the  struggle  be- 
tween the  dreamer  and  a  tiger-cat.   Associa- 
tion shows  that  the  tiger  symbolizes  the 
dreamer's  wild  self,  and  the  dream  is  a 
representation  of  a  struggle  that  is  actv-'Jy 
going  on  between  the  dreamer's  ideal  self 
and  certain  unbridled  desires. 

One  of  Doctor  X's  patients,  a  young  man 
dreamed  frequently  of  a  neglected  dog  whose 
pathetic  condition  moved  him  to  excessive 
pity.  He  woke  from  these  dreams  in  a 
state  of  depression  that  lasted  throughout 
the  day.  He  had  a  rather  Spartan  ideal 
of  conduct  and  he  was  impatient  of  these 
maxis  in  himself.  He  took  life  stoically 
and  he  was  suffering  no  unhappiness  of 
which  he  would  complain. 

By  association.  Doctor  X  discovered  that 
when  this  boy's    mother  died  she    left  a 
httle  dog  that  was  inconsolable.    It  would 
ao6 


IN  DREAMS 

sit  outside  the  door  of  her  empty  room  for 
hours,  watching  for  her,  or  waiting  on  the 
stairs  as  if  it  expected  to  hear  her  step. 
The  son  went  to  endless  trouble  to  make 
this  grieving  pet  comfortable.  He  had  been 
known  to  leave  a  week-end  party  and  hurry 
home  to  make  sure  that  the  servants  were  not 
neglecting  it.  He  found  it  dead,  one  morning, 
at  the  door  of  his  mother's  enipty  bedroom, 
and  this  incident  moved  him  extremely. 

Further  association  recalled  a  picture  of 
himself  as  a  very  small  boy  sitting  on  the 
stairs  outside  his  mother's  room,  with  his 
shoes  on  the  step  beside  him,  waiting  for 
her  forgiveness  for  some  childish  misbe- 
havior, before  he  could  go  out  to  play.  It 
became  apparent  that  after  his  mother's 
death  he  had  drained  off  his  own  grief  and 
self-pity  by  his  devoted  care  of  her  pet. 
The  dog  now  figured  in  his  dreams  as  his 
n^lected  self.  He  was  evidently  repressing 
an  excessive  self-pity.  He  confessed,  re- 
luctantly, that  he  was  in  love  with  a  young 
woman  who  often  wotmded  him  by  her 
neglect.  Examination  showed  that  her 
neglect  was  largely  imaginary — a  fiction  of 
his  own  tmconscious  desire  to  seek  occasion 
for  self-pity.  "The  analysis  of  his  dream," 
says  Doctor  X,  "led  to  an  adjustment  that 
paved  the  way  to  a  happy  marriage." 
J07 


m  ' 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 


practices  it:l/SSvS?^,^l5°^  ^ 
of  ill  health  anH  »^u    ^  ^®  ^'^^  springB 

be  cured  As  th^^  '''"**  ^^  "ay 
possSTto  watch  t^."^.  P":"^"'    't    's 

his  dreams  or  ScaT^«'if  ^^J"^*^"'"  ^ 
the  doctor  ca?  cSk  S  \T^^^'  ^^'^ 
by  means  Tth^JL!^  Prescriptions 

mental  disoSer^e '^'-  •'!?  *=^  °' 
dicatP  tKT^  '  .  oreams  infaUiblv  in- 
mcate  the  approach  of  insanitv  T,t  ♦.  f* 
>s  not  a  matter  tr»  ^^-.  uJrY'  °"*  "^at 
book  as  tS     Ani  Sfj!*"'"^  ^  ^«*  * 

4liXVSS^^^^^,-^er.  New 
had  the  ^e  mS^n?^  ">telhgence,  both 
agined   t}^f^^^^  ^^"^^    They  im- 

were  handed  ouVjSy  fo^S^TS*  ^.^"^ 
was  one  they  had  Se^^  f  o  t^  5^  ""^T^ 

were  faced  by  the  cS.S     J"^^-    ^^ 
y  me^certamty  of  complete 


IN  DREAMS 

failuTB.  It  was  too  late  to  study  the  subject, 
and  It  was  impossible  to  fake  answers  to 
the  questions.  They  were  baffled.  And 
th^  were  enraged  at  their  own  neglect  and 
lack  of  foresight.  These  feelings  were  over- 
whebningly  intense. 

On  hearing  this  dream,  Doctor  X  said 
to   the   surgeon,    "Obviously,   this   means 
that  you  are  faced  by  some  problem  that 
completely  baffles  you— a  problem  for  which 
aU  your  study  and  experience  offers   no 
solution— and  you  are  trying  not  to  think 
about  it." 
What  was  that  problem? 
The  surgeon  indicated  it  with  reluctance. 
He  had  grown  up  in  an  atmosphere  of  the 
strictest  Puritanism.    In  later  years  he  had 
lost  aU  belief  in  the  tenets  of  the  Puritan 
faith.    He  had  accepted  as  his  religion  a 
sort    of    intellectual    Uberalism    in    which 
reason  was  supreme.    But  he  was  baffled 
by  the  problem  of  eternity.    "Nothing  that 
I  know,"  he  said,  "seems  to  give  me  the 
assurance  of  everlasting  life  that  I  crave." 
His  sister  was  in  the  same  case,  confronted 
by  the  same  mystery.    Subconsciously,  they 
both  felt  themselves  unready  for  the  great 
examination.       Their    suppressed    anxiety 
showed  in  their  common  dream. 
"Our  fear  of  death,"   says   Doctor  X, 
109 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 
"»  reaUy  a  fear  of  eternity     Th^  «.h«»« 
Jdou,  mind  ha.  no  fear  of  dea'S   S^" 
It  admits  no  cessation  of  its  exiat^«  Jnd 
c^mot  picture  any.    It  shows^^^SJ^r  a 

s  r»r "T*  if  the  evil'  whicri; 

«>«aU  It  after  death.  In  this  r«snect  it 
arts  exactly  like  the  instinctive  nS^'the 
mort  pnnutive  people.  And  so  mamr  of 
us  have  lost  faith  in  the  r^UrionTihid, 

lietyl^L."    "■"'"''"*    «"-    °f    °- 
One  of  his  patients  is  a  lady,  happy  in  a 
second  marriage  and  devoted  to^h^  Sn 

been  for  some  tmie  under  treattrent  foi 
heart  disease  and  had  suffer^uch  JS 
hSSr^°'-*^1,^^-  DoctrXfo^^S 
SSt^  fT^'^^y  ^^^'  ''"t  he  learned 
v^  ^J^u^^^  ^°^^  ^*  "ight  with  a 
very  rapid  heartbeat  and  a  suflfocatin., 
sense  of  muninent  heart  failm..  He^^ 
her  to  recall  some  dream  from  wWcrS^ 

called  the  foUowing  nightmare: 

,„  \  was  crossing  a  Uttle  stream  in  the 

country.    Norman  and  I  were^w  it 

at  eadi  end  by  a  rusted  wire.    Norman 

jumped  up  and  down  on  the  log  a™t 

fio 


IN  DREAMS 
began  to  give  way.    I  said:     'Norman,  I 
have  known  this  log  since  childhood,  and  it 

^foJ^i^x?'*^  ^^"^flh-  You  must  be 
careful.     Norman   continued   to  rock   the 

1^**  .,.'*  ^"^"^  ^^y-  As  we  were 
about  to  faU  into  the  dark  water.  I  awoke 
screaming  with  terror." 

This  dream  was  so  typical  that  Doctor 
^/^'^•^^^^V'  Vou  are  afraid  of  death 
and  the  hereafter." 

"Nonsense!"  she  replied.  "I'm  not  a 
bit  afraid  of  death.  It  has  no  terrors 
wlwtever  for  me.  I'm  a  good  churchwoman." 
_  But  when  he  asked  her  to  teU  him  what 
incidents  of  her  life  were  recalled  by  as- 
sociation with  the  separate  obje  ts  in  her 
dream  a  most  enlightening  series  of  mem- 
ones  was  discovered. 

When  he  asked  her  what  happening  was 
suggested  by  the  word  "water"  she  relied: 
I  have  always  had  a  fear  of  water.  The 
first  fnght  I  recaU  was  due  to  falUng  out 
of  a  boat  when  I  was  about  four  years  old 
My  father  rescued  me,  but  I  thought  I  was 
gomg  to  drown." 

And  when  he  asked  her  what  came  to 
her  with  the  thought  of  "a  country  stream" 
she  answered:  "The  stream  near  my  home 
I  crossed  It  when  I  ran  for  father  the  day 
brother  died.  It  was  my  firet  experienci 
aiz 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 
withdeatJi.  I  was  only  five.  Brother  was 
„  ",  ^'^  ^*^°  °'''^°^  ^"d  at  four  he 
^fr-n  ^'^.^'^  him  out  in  a  white 
shroud  One  night,  some  weeks  later,  at 
dusk.  I  saw  him  aU  in  white.  I  ran  screkm- 
mg  to  mother  She  said  it  was  aU  nonsense, 
but  I  knew  I  had  seen  him.  I  was  afraid 
to  go  out  at  night  after  that.    The  next 

mto  the  house  until  after  the  funeral." 

The  doctor  said:  "The  log  which  pro- 
tects you  m  your  dream  from  the  fear  of 
drowning  is  probably  something  that  has 
served  from  childhood  to  protect  you  from 
the  fear  of  eternity.    The  only  protection 

K'lw  '^  °f.  eternity  V  religion 
wnat  about  your  religion?  " 

r  JrL^'^u ''"'^^^*  "P  ^  Catholic,"  she 
rephed  "but  I  have  left  that  church  I 
mamed  at  seventeen  and  my  husband  drew 
me  away  to  his  faith." 

Her  son  Norman  was  about  to  be 
operated  on,  and  she  was  afraid  that  he 

SSi.      "'  ^^  ''°'  ^^""s  *°  ^"y 

Anotho-  common  kind  of  dream,  charac- 
tenstic  of  our  day  and  age,  is  typified  by 
the  following  specimen: 

The  dreamer  stands  beside  a  pool. 
Terraced  steps  descend  to  the  basin  below. 

313 


IN  EREAMS 

^1%^°^^  ^  ^'^''  °f  ^"^^'^  plants 
and  the  whole  setting  is  Eastern  and  ratotic 
A  moving  object  of  some  sort  is  dimly 
visible  m  the  depths  of  the  water.  The 
dreamer  pid^  up  something  to  throw  at 
It.  His  fnends  beg  him  not  to  do  it  He 
P«sists.  He  throws  at  the  creature  in  the 
pool  and  at  once  he  has  the  feehng  that  he 

^•ni°'  r°°^-  ^*  °^  *«  '^^ter  there 
T^^  a  tigress  that  leaps  up  the  marble 
steps  toward  him.    He  flees  in  terror.    The 

W^f^^°^  "l^'*"-  "^  t"™s  to  defend 
hmiself,  and  the  tigress  has  become  an 
infmmt«i  woman.  He  awakens,  still  fright- 
ened and  trembling.  ^ 

"The  symbolism    here  is  quite    plain" 
says  Doctor  X,  "and  the  subsequent  'as- 
sociation   merely  verified  it.    We  are  deal- 
mg  with  fear  of  woman.    Such  a  fear  seems 
n(hculous  as  a  factor  in  repression,  but  I 
findit  a  factor  of  great  and  unrecognized 
im^nce  m  our  civilization.    Most  men 
scoff  at  It— as  this  patient  did— because  a 
man  must  scoff  at  it  in  onJer  to  keep  up 
his  fiction  that  he  is  the  lord  of  creation 
Like  other  fears  which  go  back  deep  into 
our  racial  past,  the  fear  of  wom^is  so 
strongly  repressed  that  its  only  expression 
IS  in  subconscious  thinking  and  motivation. 
Mans  fear  of  woman  is  embodied  in 
213 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 

myth  legend,  fairy  tale,  and  folldore     In- 

position  of  defenselessness.    The  stories  of 
Adam  and  Eve,  Samson  and  DelUah   and 

Listen  to  a  group  of  men  in  a  club:  'Yes 
M  was  all  right  till  he  feU  for  So-and-so 
That  was  his  ruin.'    Man  is  afraid  of  an 

inn«-weaknessbywhichhemaybeens]aved." 
His  fear  shows  itself  in  many  odd,  un- 
conscious ways.    The  film  "vampires"^f 

TLe^^t"^  ""T""  ^^^"  P'"^^*^  unpopular. 
The  most  popular  woman  stars  are  those 
who  are  most  ingenue  and  sexless.    This  i^ 

the  popular  opposition  to  woman  suffrage 
js  obviously  inspired  by  fear  of  woman 
The  so-called  "war  between  the  sexes"  is 
an  expression  of  the  same  emotion.    Repress- 
«ng  and  refusing  to  acknowledge  thd?^fS 

Src^mSfr^'^^'^^^^-^-i-tice 

Doctor  X  sums  up  aU  these  problems  in 
I  T?;  Emotions  must  be  regarded 
^  healthful  currents  of  natural  io^S. 
shotdd  be  used  to  furnish  energy  for  in 
^dual  expression  and  coUecti^  service 
TnZ  ^"'°*'?"^  ^"-e  so  regarded  life  assumes 
a  new  meamng  and  the  individual  develops 
ai4  ^ 


IN  DREAMS 

new  powers.  As  things  are  now,  to  be 
emotional  is  to  be  considered  weak,  senti- 
mental, or  sinful.  Pauline  self-repression 
is  the  ideal  on  the  one  hand,  and  hypocrisy 
and  license  the  result  on  the  other.  Both 
roads  lead  to  a  selfishness  that  defeats  the 
collective  ideal  of  nature  and  impairs  the 
success  of  our  civilization,  which  is  itself 
the  expression  of  the  collective  ideal." 


CHAPTER  IX 


IN  RELIGION 


f  S^?f  ^2,^^"'"'*=^°'^  J^ealth  cannot 
h,-;  f^-.^  -^"^  '"  ^  P«««°t  v^ho  has  lost 
IHS  fa:  h  m  immortality,"  says  Doctor  X 

concept  only;  there  is  no  such  thing  as 

S  k  h  ^^r'"'^'^-  ^«  subconSoS 
mmd  IS  basicaUy  as  reUgious  as  the  mind  ot 

the  most  primitive  people.  It  has  S  we 
^  almc^t  caU  a  rehgious  in^i„r  Vru 
camiot  achieve  a  happy  and  successful  l2e 

stmct  to  happy  and  successful  fulfilhnent." 
to^'!  f  ^^"«"«y  astounding  stateSLnt 
to  come  from  a  modem  man  of  science 
What  does  it  mean?  "aence. 

We  have  aheady  pointed  out.  in  an  earlier 

pSV^nTi;'"  ''^  "^^  outgrorS 
penod  of  cradled  ommpotence  and  berins 

HpT^  .~v?*^°*  protection  and  suppS 

He  looks  to  his  parent  for  aid,  as  to  a  Ser 

power,  and  the  parent  consequently  SL 

316 


Iji 


IN  RELIGION 

a  sort  of  supernatural  be<ng  to  him,  amid 
the  dangers  and  uncertainties  of  his  first 
steps  in  the  world.  He  is  dependent  on  a 
higher  power,  and  his  dependence  promotes 
an  inclination  of  the  subconscious  mind  that 
commonly  shows  as  a  religious  instinct. 
That  instinct  may  be  developed  either 
happily  or  unhappily  by  education  and  ex- 
perience. It  cannot  be  eradicated  by  any 
skeptical  conviction  of  the  conscious  mind. 
And  the  failure  to  direct  its  impulse  to  a 
prosperous  issue  is  one  of  the  notable 
disasters  of  our  civilization. 

What  is  blocking  us? 

According  to  Doctor  X,  we  are  being 
blocked  by  faulty  education,  organized  igno- 
rance, the  inherited  errors  of  oiu"  forefathers, 
a  bad  tradition,  and  an  e'«il  use  of  it. 

It  is  easier  to  find  tlie  image  of  the  parent 
as  a  god  in  the  subconscious  mind  of  the 
race  than  in  the  subconscious  mind  of  the 
child,  because  the  image  alters  in  the  child's 
mind  nowadays  at  an  earlier  period  than 
conscious  memory  can  recall.  Doctor  X 
has  one  patient,  a  young  woman  with  a 
religious  complex,  whose  father  was  a  quer- 
ulous invalid,  irritable  and  exacting;  he 
ruled  over  her  young  life,  from  an  armchair, 
repressing  her  nattu-al  self-assertion  with 
the  stem  admonition  that  disobedience  to 
10  ai7 


ii 


in 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 

evident  and  recognized.    Itsh^in^ 

dead  tnbal  heroes  who  were  seen  as  st^ 
Romans  that  their  emperors.  afteTdeaS 

tt^ofr:^^"^  ^•^^^'^'^  so  do^^ 
of  wT  T>!?'"^  *^°et  of  the  divine  right 
out  wf  L,T^  f  "^^'"'^  '^^^°*^  stretches 
Wsi.Tl'°  ^^""^^  ^  ^  *=Md  holds  out 

cj.       i-ope      is   a   form    of    "nana " 

FatSi-anHri,  '  ^"^  ^^  "^^^  Little 
cSSS;'^»^^^^''^.°"^°^  "Father  of  His 
wL  •^atwTK'^,!'°'^^  ^^°'  ^<J  Lincoln 
operates  in  hero  worship  as  in  reUgion 


IN  RELIGION 

punished  his  children  with  ill  health,  ca- 
lamity, earthqualf^,  bad  weather,  insect  pests, 
defeat  in  war,  and  all  misfortune.  The 
relation  to  the  god  and  the  relation  to  the 
parent  were  almost  equally  fearful.  Now 
this  sort  of  fear  is  a  vile  depressant,  and 
the  tradition  of  fear  of  God  and  fear  of  the 
parent  is  the  "bad  tradition"  which  Doctor 
X  deplores. 

"We  know,"  he  says,  "that  the  feelings 
of  strength  and  pleasure  in  the  body  are 
maintained  by  certain  fluids  called  the 
endocrine  secretions,  which  are  poured  into 
the  system  by  the  effect  of  the  emotions. 
The  pain  feelings  or  the  weak  feelings  in  the 
body  result  from  the  withholding  of  these 
secretions  or  from  the  release  of  a  weakening 
secretion  poured  out  in  the  same  way.  The 
elation  of  success  produces  strength  and 
pleasure  in  the  body  by  causing  chemical 
changes  in  the  bodily  secretions.  The  de- 
spair of  failure  causes  equally  strong  effects 
of  the  opposite  kind.  Hope  of  success  and 
success  itself  cause  strength.  Anticipation 
of  failure  and  failure  itself  cause  weaJcness. 
I  am  not  speaking  now  of  conscious  mental 
processes.  I  mean  that,  in  response  to 
instinctive  symbols  and  independent  of  in- 
telligence, the  body  is  chemically  strength- 
ened or  weakened  in  success  or  failure. 
319 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 

"Pear  is  the  anticipation  of  failure    aa 
hope  ,s  the  haUudnation  of  succSs     T^ 

».-SoiN%ecS 
^tp^iS-is--^--^ 

InSnc'rS'l    ^^"^^the'TJiontS 
instinct  so  largely  an  emotion  of  fear  is 

fif^^M^  to  the  health  and  happinS^  of 

he  chdd,  and  it  is  almost  cS  Th?f 

later  years,   subconsciously   to   crainn   w! 

energy  and  block  his  succei  "  ^  ^ 

a  necSlt  T.l  '^'\  '^'  '*  ^  practicaUy 
ft  Sf  ?       ^^^  subconscious  mind  that 

o  ^^L       n^^  '^S^^  P°^^  on  which 
to  depend;  and  those  who  have  lost  th^ 

orthSr^  ^^  *°  *^  ^^PP'^st  development 

substitut^^"'  ""-^^  *^"y  '^^  fi^d^me 
substitute-some  spiritual  or  moral  law   if 

leaity.    For  those  who,  more  happilv  havp 

reqJste^it'^'-^^  '-^P^nS"&JZ 
requisite  of  happiness  is  a  God  of  love  and 
fandhness;   and  it  is   the  fortunate   cSd 
whose  parents  teach  and  pracS  the  re 
hgion  of  love,  for  he  wiU  pS)aWy  g^^  ITp 


IN  RELIGION 

without  that  inheriidnce  of  inescapable  fear 
which  IS  the  uncoasdous  curee  of  so  murh 
of  our  modem  piety. 

This,  however,  is  by  no  means  the  whole 
of  the  problem.    There  is  still  the  curse  of 
the  evil  self  to  be  lifted.    That  possession 
b«!gins,  m  the  child,  with  the  first  revolt  of 
the  mstmct  of  self-assertion,  which  is  usually 
disobedience  to  the  parent;  and  disobedience 
being    concealed    because    of    the   fear   of 
punishment,  the  child  is  afflicted  with  the 
sense  of  secret  guilt.    He-e,  possibly,  is  the 
origin  of  the  idea  of  the  evil  self  among 
primitive  peoples,  too,  but  with  them,  as 
with  the  growing  child,  it  is  all  confused 
with   the   idea   of  the   sex   self— perhaps 
because  the  instinct  of  sex  is  nature's  lever 
for  breaking  the  child  away  from  the  parent 
m  order  to  estabUsh  a  new  family;  and  the 
revolt   of   sex   is   consequently   the   revolt 
against  the  parent,  and,  therefore,  the  source 
of    original  sin." 
This  is  where  Doctor  X's  complaint  of 
faulty  education"  begins.    The  child  is 
taiight  that  to  disobey  his  parents  is  a  sin, 
and  the  first  stirrings  of  his  instinct  of  self- 
assertion  are  thereby  marked  as  sinful— as 
the   stirrings   of   his   evil   self.    His  first 
mstmctive  curiosity  about  sex  is  similarly 
branded,  and  his  sex  self  becomes  part  of 

331 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 

his  evil  sf  If.    The  Evil  <i.tf ;.  tt. 

«  a  sort  of  inner  c  ^^t  /  ?  **^*«' 

his   ideal    seH-bi'tT^'^'iZ.'l^ 

i^^T.f^---^-Sn;pS 

^^  ^  pilars  of  tie  ^   seff,    .. 

the  sex  self?  creates  the  demon  of 

chid'^u'sS  fflfth:  °'  ^  "^""^^y  «  the 

no  threat,  no  pSS^  2  l'  ^  P^^^^«»t, 
terrible  to  be  2^  ^1  ?^!  "^"^  ^  ^ 
-ay  from  th:  d^cesV-^s^l^t^^ 

eviii3?t^^.^^^i^,rr:--jsss 


IN  RELIGION 

"Jame  and  is  overwhelmed  by  the  horror 
«  It.  The  child  has  the  brand  of  an  in- 
eflFaceable  vileness  indelibly  burned  upon 
M  instinct  that  is  to  appear  again  and  again. 
This  sense  of  vileness  is  refelt  whenever  the 
instinct  moves,  and  the  yielding  to  tempta- 
tion leaves  a  sense  of  guilt  and  remorse 
bitter  beyond  anything  else  in  life. 

"The  boy  reacts  first  to  guilt  in  instances 
of  sex  curiosity;  then  to  the  fear  of  irre- 
mediable injury  derived  from  the  misinter- 
pretation of  certain  natural  functions  of 
puberty;  and  then  to  remorse  at  the  in- 
trusion of  forbidden  thoughts.  He  ends  by 
accepting  a  false  beUef  of  imperfection  as 
the  punishment  for  sin.  The  sex  instinct 
becomes  so  marked  with  a  stigma  of  vileness 
that  with  difficulty  can  it  be  ennobled  to 
serve  the  purposes  of  mating.  A  scar  is 
left  on  self. 

"The  girl  follows  the  same  path,  which 
leads  to  the  investment  of  the  periodical 
function  with  shame,  instead  of  pride,  and 
to  the  abolition  of  the  local  pleasure  values 
which  make  mutual  love  magnetic.  Love 
relations  become  ahnost  asexual  and  mar- 
riage is  abhorrent.  Thoughts  that  are  ren- 
dered distorted  and  terrifying  by  repression 
keep  alive  the  sense  of  guilt  and  remorse. 
The  sex  instinct  is  never  so  feeble  but  that, 

33] 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 


The  pult  of  sex  is  a  human  fallacy. 

Hie  efforts  of  the  youth  to  overry««» 
con^,  and  outgrow  this  Sn£le^?S 
of  sex  produce  most  of  the  aher«.tJ™..  « 
^nduct  in  adolescence.    kJ"^:^^ 

lauures  to  maximate  the  ero     TJip  ««»-«- 
sion   of  an   evil   self   nf   .        ^"®  .P°sses- 

«  a^complete  bar  to  the  hope  of  theS 

"On  the  other  hand,  if  the  child  is  Mt 
alone,  nature  replaces  one  s«  S:e  Jifh 

ing  into  the  ZH^  alSoSfS  T' 
tnougnts  and  dreams  of  puberty  are  pt 
Of  hfe.matmg and  marriage.    ThegirloS 


IN  RELIGION 

to  treasure  her  impulse  as  valuable  enerey 
to  be  conserved  in  order  to  realize  an  ideal. 
The  evil  self  completely  disappeare  and  is 
replaced  by  the  biological  self  of  mother 
craving,  the  crown  of  womanhood. 

'Many  a  woman  is  prevented  from  gain- 
ing pride  in  self-expression  because  of  the 
unforgetable  memory  of  the  impurity  of  an 
evil  self  which  may  overwhehn  her  at  any 
tune  of  relaxed  vigilance.    Always,  in  dreams 
this  evil  self  appears  in  a  forbidding  role, 
from  which  the  dreamer  flees  in   terror' 
The  most  hopeful  feature  of  lifting  the  ban 
from  the  sex  self  and  aUowing  the  person 
to  think  any  thought  that  is  biologically 
true  is  the  disappearance  of  temptation. 
Any  lustful  thought,  when  told  that  it  is 
f^iL^I  biological  craving  for  a  child,  to  be 
fulfilled  m  an  appropriate  manner  at  an 
accepted  time,  readily  accedes  to  the  sugges- 
tion.   The  release  of  the  personality  from 
the  millstone  of  guilt  permits  the  use  of 
energies  in  higher  forms  of  activity." 

The  Freudians  have  tried  to  remove  the 
curse  on  the  evil  self  by  accepting  it  as  the 
real  self  and  by  attributing  its  sinful  aspects 
to  man's  false  judgment  of  its  meaning. 
They  have  tried  to  compose  the  old  "conflict 
between  good  and  evil"  by  calling  the  evil 
good  and  by  obtaining  absolution  for  the 
335 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 
ejnl   by  the   correction   of   false   opinion. 

composed  of  brute  impulses,  is  the  com^ 
^^  force   m   Mfe,   and   that   it   is   re- 

SS"    ^^H'^  *°  ""^  to  be  half- 
truths,      says    Doctor    X.     "The    eeo    in 

ammaJs  corr^ponds  loosely  to  the  Freudian 
unconscious,  but  the  primal  brute  cmviiS 
of  any  ammal  are  molded  to  agree^U^ 
g^  of  conduct  common  trSaTir 
tacular  species  of  animal-^o  that  coi^ 
^d  repression, occur  in  the  animal  world 
^ere  no  conscious  thought  is  ope.^^^ 
^^J^.ego   and   the   animal^t 
^toms  are  in  conflict,  and  by  a  pit^'S^ 
umteting  the  parent  a  standardization  of 
conduct  is   obtained.    Human   condS  2 
^ly  standamized.    Brute  cra^^  S 

standard  of  parental  conduct.  This  stand 
ard  undergoes  an  alteration  to  meet  the 
d^nands  of  the  playground.  Tal£ 
further  m  the  reactions  of  romantic  love  Sd 

fe^y.    Imitation  of  a  model,  trial  and 

"Moreover,"  says  Doctor  X.  "my  ex- 
penence  falls  to  confirm  the  belief  that  the 

336 


IN  RELIGION 

^^yF"^^^."^^  «  ^^  strongest 
force  in  Me.    In  spite  of  aU  e:tplanationi  to 
the  contrary,  there  is  no  doubt  that  Freud 
considers  the  sex  instinct  the  prime  motive 
force    in    his    theory    of    energy.    Animal 
psychology  shows  that  any  instinct,  when 
satisfied,  ceases  to  act  as  a  driving  force. 
Ihis  fact— which  is  an  admitted  fact— re- 
duces sex  impulsion  to  an  intermittent  and 
inconstant    force.      The    only    continually 
acting  force  is  that  inexorable  ui^e  which 
has  been  caUed  the  'will  to  power,'  the  'flan 
vital,  and  so  forth.    It  is  an  innate  craving 
for  power  which  has  marked  man's  emeiven^ 
from  the  purely  brute  phase  of  life.    Its 
mental  expression  is  the  Hero  Wish     Sex 
domination  is  only  one  phase  of  it. 

ij      »,^f^  ^'^  '^  immemorial  and  world 
old     Mythology,   folklore,  fairy  tales  are 
fuU  of   It.    In   its   blind    beginning    it  is 
merely  an  impulsion   to  raise   self  to  its 
highest  power.    But,   in  accord  with  the 
biological   law   of  imitation,    it   foUows   a 
definite   path   to   expression.       This   path 
begms  as  the  path  of  the  parental  model- 
the  girl  to  reproduce  the  mother,  the  boy 
the  father.    Its  go^l  becomes  a  subconscious 
goal  the  goal  of  the  ideal;  and  the  energy 
of  the  Hero  Wish  is  restrained  to  the  channd 
of  the  ideal.    I  have  never  come  in  contact 

9*7 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 

rt^lf  into  a  failure   to  realize  an   ideal. 
Hence,   the  greatest   need   of  modem   re- 
S^".^''  morality  seems  to  me  to  be  the 
need  to  establish  true  ideals  that  are  bS 
^^calty  attainable.     We  need  more^o^. 
fdge   of   ourselves.       We   need    to   create 
Jdeds  that  we  can  fulfill,  and  we  neTS 
nventory  our  real  assets  with  pride.    As 
itis  we  create  false  ideals  and  ^disca^ 
our   real    assets    as    liabilities.    The^ue 
solution  of  life  is  to  raster  our  bfoloS 
impulses  at  their  real  values  as  fo2f  ^ 
dynamic  energy,  and  to  refine  them  so  as 
to  create   the   fullest   self-expression  whfl^ 
p^ucmg  the  fullest  coUeS^^o^^: 
family,  community,  nation,  and  race." 

As  philosophical  pronouncements,   these 
^cte  are  miportant  enough.    But  they  S 

ot  Health  and  a  code  of  conduct.    Here  is 
rstS*;„^  despondent  young  woman,  who 
^tp^  to  earn  her  living  without  ambition 
without   energy,    without   friends.    sK 
sohtajy.    She  is  unwell.    She  is  con^ce^ 
that  her  ill  health  unfits  her  for  manS? 
She  IS  convmced  also  that  it  mak^^KoS 
impossible  for  her.    She  is  in  deJ^T^ 
ta^  wiUi  her  about  he^elf.  th?d£or  is 
struck  by    certam  practices  of  renunciation 
238 


IN  RELIGION 

which  are  unbiological"-instead  of  usmir 
W  ^es  for  self-adomment.  self-educaSj 
and  other  fonns  of  maximating  the  ego 
she  ,s  sp«admg  all   her  eanim|s  on  IS 
mother  and  her  sister.    An  analysis  of  her 
dreams  shows  that  her  ill  health  is  the 
Physi^   r^ion    to   a   subconscious   seS 
f^f^'^"^  this  disgust  traces  back  to  the 
Jfl  ^*  fu^  '^^^  '^^  I'^t^d  her  mother 
L,«fi  w^  •^*  "'^^  ^*^  h«'  "mother  quit^ 
justa^bly  m  return  for  her  mother's  cruelty-   ' 
nevertheless,   she  feels  the  hatred  TZ,' 
emanation  of  her  evil  self;  and  all  her  acte 

Z^"^^^"^;"^  unconscious  attempts  to 
e)q)iate  her  guilt.    Similarly  she  is  uncon- 

ment  of  the  evil  self,  and    her   feax   and 
^sgust  of  this  inner  devil  are  blocW^g  £ 
self-expression  and  her  success.    d4  in 
her  mmd,  the  doctor   finds   that    hT^Z 
conscioi^  wish  is  to  have  beautiful  things 
to  have  fnends.  to  be  loved,  to  have  chiS 
S^^  ^%  ^-^^'^  ^^  happiness  by 
iW  S^"^  i^  mstmctive  self,  absolving 
rt  of  gmlt  m  her  mmd,  and  freeing  her  to 
Siir^""'  ^-^hnent  of  her  r!pressS 
Hw  is  another  patient,  a  young  man  of 

S^'r'^w-'^^!  *°  ^«=*°'-  X  suffering 
with  palpitation  of  the  heart  and  extreme 

22Q 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 
^uaiess.    He  ^  employed  as  a  clerk 
S  ^   ^^'  °^''^'  *'«  ^as  ambitious 
«J^^i^!Sr?f-  ^,«»«'neer,  worked  overtime. 
E!f h  "^fr*^^  T*^  ^"^'^^^  "^^ht  school 
So  W  f    was  checking  him,  and  he  was 
devotmg  hours  of  worry  and  all  sorts  of 
«mous  efforts  to  regSng  his  h^S'  bf 
means  of  diet,  exercise,  and  medicine. 
His  apparent  problem,"  says  Doctor  X, 

n^i  •  '^.^'''  "^"^^l  that  his  real 
probl«n-of  which  he  was  quite  unawar^ 
was  his  struggle  with  his  evil  self.    In  his 

^f  ^'  l^  '^^  ^^^  ^  given  r£  to 
evU    thoughts,    and    these    had    produced 

^Ir^'^r^?  ''^  ^  ^  and  WvS 
-permanently  impaired  mind  and  body 

£  Z  ^  >^'  ^'^^  .'^^  acceptance  of  it 
Sow J^  ""^^  ^  mstinctive  fear  that 
^owed  as  nervousness  and  palpitation,  and 
th^  in  turn  were  accepted  as  evident^  of 
physical  and  mental  ruin. 

frJn"^  *^"  "  v"""^'  ^"*  h^  was  held  back 
from  marnage  by  his  conviction  that  he  was 

fJ^^^r^  ^^-  ^^  ^«*y  took  the 
fwrn  of  overwork  and  an  overzealous  at- 

JTill^irS'^^"'"-  Both  incased 
nis  111  health.  He  was  rejected  for  life 
insurance.  When  the  war  broke  o^t  he 
was  rejected  by  the  training  camp.  Th«J 
130 


IN  RELIGION 

that  he  would   soon   be  rejected  by^ 

paSi'ttS°'''-\'^y^  ^°^«d  that  the 
patient  had  imsuiterpreted  biological  facts 
The  evil  self  was  not  an  evil  self   b,,t  .' 
I^tural  instinct  branded  wi'h^h.    "No 
real  hann  had  been  done  his  heTh.    M^e 

^et'^felf^  ^°^'  ""'  "^  -^--  ^o" 
f«,  f-  ■  ^^  ^°^  ^  the  cause  of  his 
fe^  was  dissipated,  the  palpitation  and  S 
hypertension  disappeared.    He  saw  that  he 

S'^J"''''^-  H«  -  longer  heS! 
tated  to  become  engaged.  He  left  the 
t^ht  rope  on  which  he  h.d  been  balanciS 

wU'  ^"^^  *^*  °°  "^^^  grounT^s^: 
^  «iergy  was  sufficient  to  do  his  7oric 
^th  As  his  health  improved,  he  obtahS 
a^s^on  to  the  aviation  servick    He^^^S 

tS^S^^?'°°^?"^*=^-    Fear  of  a  demon 

dt^g?'™"""^  ^'  ^"^*^  ^  ^°^^  all  the 

I  might  fiU  a  volume  with  reports  of 

^ch  cases  as  these  from  Doctor  X's^rSc^ 

m«ejbly  common  cause  of  iU  health  and 

unhappmess.    Let  me  add  only  one  mor^ 

'31 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 

a  case  that  hallucinates  the  evil  self  as  i 
personal  devil,  after  the  manner  of  ou; 
Puritan  ancestors. 

A  boy  of  eight  years  old  was  brought  b] 
his  psirents  to  Doctor  X,  suffering  supposed!} 
with  some  sort  of  obscure  nervous  trouble 
His  father  was  a  minister,  and  the  boy  hac 
been  strictly  trained  in  the  way  that  h« 
should  go.    Unfortunately,  he  did  not  gc 
in   it.    For  one  thing,   he  frequently  rar 
away  from  home,  and  no  punishment  or 
his  return  seemed  to  deter  him.    After  gain- 
ing his  confidence,  Doctor  X  learned  that 
he  did  not  run  away  voluntarily;  the  devil 
made  him.    He  had  seen  the  devil  several 
times,  at  night.    He  was  sure  it  was  not  a 
dream.    He  described   Satan's  appearance 
vividly— though  conventionally.    The  devil 
was  stronger  than  he,  and  he  had  to  obey 
if  the  devil  told  him  to  do  a  thing.    He  ran 
away,  the  last  time,  because  when  he  got 
up  in  the  morning  he  put  his  shoes  on  the 
wrong  feet,  and  then  he  knew  that  the  devil 
had  him.    It  was  a  sign.    Useless  to  resist! 
He  ran  off  to  a  neighboring  military  camp 
and  hung  around  there  all  day.    Of  course 
he  was  whipped  when  he  returned  home. 
He  felt  that  there  was  no  justice  in  punish- 
ing him  for  a  thing  he  could  not  help.  Still— 
"It's  a  real  relief,"  says  Doctor  X,  "to 
333 


IN  RELIGION 

put  the  blame  on  the  devil  and  absolve 
yourself  of  guilt.     When  T  ,,+t,Z^  *i.         iX 
inlroot  at  citr      u     ^  i-uther  threw  his 

sS'ifi^hS  o^^erL^iTon'^s: 

snZ^-ni  ^^^  P^""^"  '«  attended  by  a 

special  guardian  who  is  malignant  in  SLr- 
acter    ever  ready  to  seize  upon  th^  W 

WiT  \  ,    ?P^'^'-  T^«  medieval  Churd^ 

.^°'^g^with  this  unnecessary  evil  self'nf 

^tS^sob^^'^  °'  unnec^SaTsS^'ari 
CTeated-disobedience,  anger,  jealousy  self 
gmess.   seH-conceit.  pridl,  yLity?Tmpi 
tm^ce.  and  so  forth.    These  sins  a^^eX 
pres^ons   of    the   child's    instinct  orsS- 

SrSe'^^E'  "  '^^  ™^P™«  °f  ^« 
wnoie    life     Expressions    of    the    counter 

vailmg  instinct  of  self-abasement  are  pS 

TienTZT.'"'^'^-    "-selfishness!  "S 
Tr^tu  "'^^^e^S'  reverence  for   his   eldera 

c^mes    wftr""""/'!"^  °'  inferiorit/S 
S     ^A.^   ^^°''^'^   mainspring.     The 
<*Jd,  with  his  sex  instinct  als^  mfrked^ 
«  333 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 
evil,  is  thus  as  nearly  as  possible  predestined 
to  unhappuiess.  iU  healuTand  S^Thv 
the   powerful    influences   of  Td  ^^^^ 
tiammg  and  faulty  education  ^' 

Aman  needs  to  accept  himself,"  says 
«>ctor  .^  ,  "as  a  work  of  God  or  the  IW 

with  aU  the  respect  and  admiration  thathe 
tokes  any  other  great  work  of  naTuiT  He 
ism  ^e  class  with  a  great  waterfall,  a  de^ 
vem  of  ore    a  reservoir  of  natural  e^    a 

It.    And  they  should  be  observed  not  mSdv 

l^="'°Siann^ttfbll^^ 
Pn>duct.    His  weS^eL^:^  not'  h°S 

m  Sl"^'  """'u^^  '^""^  the  resS^ 
lU  luck;  they  are  both  the  predictable  n„f 
come  of  discoverable  laws.    P^"'^'''^  °"t- 
The  subconscious  mind  is  the  true  thit,\r 

Z^iJ'  T  "^*^°"*  fei'LS^^St" 

tmt^   T^"  '^^t^^^'-  it  perceives  as  the 
IZ    '^     *.^"=*'   ^'^y-   because  it  acts  h^ 

Sii  T*^  ^''^'''  ^*  ^  compSely 

fonned  by  nature  to  register  the  LST^ 

334 


IN  RELIGION 

toe  ^  «  interpreted  by  the  automatic 

mages  of  these  receptors.  The  instincte 
n«Jster  m  emotions  which  are  rigidly  pro- 
duced by  this  subconscious  mind  in  ac^ 
T^^-  ^"^^°^-  For  instance,  the 
subconscious  registers  aversion  to  a  certain 
pe«on-a  parent  perhaps-^d  the  reaction 
of  hate  results  without  any  regani  to  your 
mteUectual  l^ef  that  it  is'^widced  to  ff 

.w  iiff  1  ^^^^  °*  ^^  yo«  make  your 
mteUect  by  repressing  the  emotion  the 
more  necessity  you  will  have  of  handling  a 
hate-a   grouch'— of  unknown  origin.    The 

1?!.,^"?°"?  ^°"  ^  °^  *•»«  t™e  origin 
of  this  hate  the  more  liable  you  are  to  v«it 
it  on  innocent  persons.    An  instinctive  emo- 
Uon,  once  formed,  must  have  an  outlet  and 
will  get  It.    In  losing  the  ability  to  regulate 
conduct  m  accord  with  emotion,  you  have 
lost  control  of  life.    Conduct  can  always 
be  r^ulated  in  accord  with  convention,  if 
you  know  what  force  you  are  trying  to 
regulate.    But  when  you  attempt  to  regu- 
late conduct  by   regulating    thought  you 
only  change  the  direction  of  conduct  with- 
°'^1,1™P'^^S  the  conduct  in  the  least." 

This  IS  the  failure  of  much  of  our  modem 
rehgion;  it  attempts  to  r^ulate  conduct  by 
regulating  instinctive  thought.  Such  thought 
"ii 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 
«  compulsive  and  should  be  free     T* 

from  consaous  thought  repressed 

Uvli  ^  !  T^"''*''"  *y«  Doctor  X,  "who 
"vea  on  a  farm  near  Buffalo.  It  waT  » 
good  farm  and  he  liked  to  live  ij    j! 

n^^sae'ritinriis^ 

old-fashioned   woll   =vl^       V  "«  ™d  an 

estate  deH^Tf    '*.,'^^   '^   whole 
lived.  therJtitltS^^*'^^"'-    ««» 

£w--t?'-re&.^ 

wara  the  subconscious  facts  of  i,-f«        v- 

whaTtEtls  ?an1"?  n""*"-  ^'  '^ 
-.  Shall  i^aSS^ait^'SS 


IN  RELIGION 

I^l^/'*^  ""1  ^PP^^  that  come  of 
mderstanciing  the  powers  of  our  natures 
and  drawing  on  the  reservoirs  of  those 
powers. 

The  greatest  of  our  powers  is  that  un- 
coosaous  Ideal  and  aspiration  which  takes 
the  form  of  the  Hero  Wish.    It    begins 
perhaps,  as  pure  selfishness  and  the  desir^ 
Z^A^°T"'   ^°'^'^ation,    but   it   is    soon 
molded  to  more  unselfishness  by  the  desire 
for  the  parent  s  affection  and  approval,  the 
approval  of  the  parental  God,  Z  app^S 
tLl^Tu-    At  adolescence,  it  tdces  on 
forms  of  self-sacnfice  and  fulfills  the  ethics 
ol  Chnst-perhaps  because  at  this  period 
the  parent  m^^ge  has  to  be  sacrificed  to  the 
new  sex  love  and  this  sacrifice  colors  the 
v^ole  unconscious  ideal.    The  self-sacrifice 
««itmues  m  love  for  a  mate,  for  children, 
^ttie  family.    And  always  the  herd  in^ 
stmct.    that    seeks    the    approval    of   our 
feUows,  operates  to  make  the  ideal  of  value 
to  soaety.    Such  a  Hero  Wish  is  the  true 
Zliff  «fy   '.P«yche"-the  stHMigest  thing 
in  hfe.    And  it  is  the  calamity  of  our  r^ 
ligion  and  our  moraUty  that  we  have  marked 

^o,^^..  ^t  ^"^^^  ^P^^s  of  the 
fj?  ^wi.  ^"}^  animal  impulses,"  and 
fought  them  blindly,  and  condemned  them 
as  havmg  theu-  source  in  "original  sin." 

'37 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 

^  Pjyche  is  the  ego.  the  pmSnalS    if 

SLISL  ^^r   "^d»   in  its  8d^ 
S^^    And  It  has  aspects  in  whichit 

of  S^^-n^^*  me  conclude  with  t^«S« 

sa^w^w*  Patient^an  a«K~S'  „, 

w^nege^g  hi.  p^,  ,,,?^-  ^«^  he 
^t  in  campaigns  of  city  planning  and 

S^?  ft  "^^^  M  P  ^*  ^  "«ty  beautiS^ 
tuat  had  been  built  on  a  higher  olat«„ 

^mther  in  the  clouds.    S  u^SS 

«>nipan,on  was  with  him.    After  adSSJ 


IN  RELIGION 
iJij.  dty  «  moment  he  aaid  to  this  companion, 

tr;   ,.^°^  *"  °*h"  replied,    "You're 
not  lookmg  at  it  from  the  proper  angle." 

He  reported  this  dream  to  the  doctor 
without  any  suspicion  of  what  it  meant 

It  meant,  says  the  doctor,  "  that  he  had  a 
doubt  of  my  counsel-that  he  considered 
my  advice,  about  using  only  his  surplus 
tmie  and  money  in  furthering  his  city 
t^"iS'  ^'^'^J^^  was  perhaps  not  oJi 
tHe  level  Accordmgly,  I  explained  myself 
m  more  detail,  and  he  finaUy  accepted  the 

W**.*!!^-  ,^'  *  "*"«■  °f  V  he 
had  not  been  lookmg  at  my  proposal  from 
the  proper  angle-as  the  companion  in  his 
dream  knew.  But  what  faculty  of  the  sub- 
consaous  mmd  was  it  that  knew  and  gave 
me  the  warning  that  he  thought  my  advice 
was  not  on  the  level,  and  that  he  so  thought 
because  he  was  not  looking  at  the  matter 
irom  the  proper  angle?" 

In  another  case  the  doctor  had  been  try- 
ing for  months  to  uncover  a  very  deep 
i^ression  of  guflt  that  was  ruining  a  patie^ 
ne^th.  The  dreams  which  the  patient  re- 
ported  showed  that  he  was  struggling  to 
coifess  what  the  concealed  offense  had  ^ 
I  he  doctor  kept  on,  encouiage'l.  The 
patient,  at  last,  "came  through";  and  the 
»39 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 

m^Jr^  ««fidently  to  build  up  a  cure 
His  confidence  was  checked  by  the  accS' 

although  he  was  unaware  of  k~h.TZ- 
sented  the  doctorTSg  b  rjl  ZT 
P^^g  up  a  glittering  ob^  otZ'^S 

r-tSj^il^/e'it^riso^r 

w£tfeir'*'""°*"^*'^«<=^asou]. 

sdoS'L?"^*  '^^^'^  ^'^  °f  the  uncon- 


IN  RELIGION 

S\^°'"-  ^^d.body,  as  the  child  does 
when  he  wishes  himself  dead  in  order  to 
gneve  his  parents,  and  sees  himse^  SSeS 
by  their  sorrow.  Now,  the  goal  of  oS 
otoce  ajid  immortality  is  no  less  thTShe 
wish  to  be  a  g«l  Think  what  thisTeaS - 
You  have  a  nund  nine-tenths  of  whi^is 
vmccmscious,  but  none  the  less  dynaStith 
the  fixed  goal  of  being  godlike™d  you 

agW  theV""^'T•°"  ^  ^  --^-^t 

"Therein  lies  the  secret  of  the  oower  of 
S'.*^-  ''^■^^'-  ^^'^  whether  yoSS^e 
I^.n  ^.'*  u  ^  ^°^  ^^°  became  a  iS«^r 
amaa  who  became  a  God,  his  creed  is  the 
union  of  a  conscious  belief  with  an  uncon- 
scious conviction.    And  no  matter  wW 
the  unconscious  mind  obtained  Tit  con 
vxtion    this  practical  resS  enSs.-  X" 
cure  and  restoration  of  a  defective  Mrson! 
Jty  IS    not    possible,   in    my  e^S^e 
|f  the  patient  has  lost  his  beli?  b^e 
.mmortality  of  the  soul.    As  so<»  S  Se 
process  of  mental  analysis  showrmfthat 
^patient  ^  a  fix«i  atheism.  I  S^pX 
case.    I  have  learned  from  many  f^ures 

Sd  tteV'"  °°  ^.°^^^'^  on  whicTS 
buiM,  that  I  am  working  in  quicksand. 
I  do  not  mean  that  I  have  any  scien- 
241 


THE  SECRET  SPRINGS 

tific  proof  that  man  has  a  soul  or  ♦!,-♦  -l 

>s  immortal     n«f  t  t         v^  **  "'•*  >* 

uuuiunai.    But  I  have  atnmdant  nm«* 

that  he  acts  unconsciously  asuViJ^ 
"mortal  soul,  and  that  1^5?  ^^ 
lum  ultimately  to  health  ^^  ^*^ 
vmless  he  actsL  conS^aS^SS 
this  unconscious  convictioT^T  ^^ 
power  m  him  which  we camiot  seeSt  ™* 
^  we  can  see  the  electricity  bS^X 
but  we  can  use  that  nower  }«  wT  r  •    ' 

sidan,  th^,  rC  fa^L'Sf  ^.  ^  P^^' 
mortal  soulVand  L^aTtwTJ^  ^  ^■ 
in  practice  is  the  S^w  «w?^  ""  ^ 
it  is  true  in  fact"  P«»f  to  me  that 

POSTSCRIPT 

to  be  given  his  tamem  Si,        •  ^'*^^ 

his ^yr^TM^^^^  *°.  P««^e 
y™«y-    AS  the  senes  continued,  his 


IN  RELIGION 
M«^ty^  disclosed,  for  one  reason  or  an- 
2e^^  ^^  a  number  of  persons  that 
Mn^^  ""^  ^"^""^  a  secret  of  Pdi- 

Sj  ™r  °^  »*  and  confess  that  he  is  Dr 
Bdwaid  H.  Reede  of  Washington.  D  C. 


TBB  BMD 


